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AMONG THE PIMAS 



OR 



THE MISSION TO THE 



PIMA AND MARICOPA INDIANS. 



" Witli their names 
No bard emljalnis and sanctifies his song : 
And history so warm on meaner themes. 
Is cold on this/' 





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PRINTED 


FOR 






THE LADIES' 


UNION MISSION 


SCHOOL 


ASSOCIATION 


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ALBANY, 


N. Y. 








1893. 









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CONTENTS. 



Introduction, -.-_-. 5 

Chapter First, iS 

Mr. Cook's narrative of his journey to Arizona, 
with a sketch of his early h'fe. 

Chapter Second, - - ~ - - - 35 

Biographical sketch of Mrs. Anna M, Cook. 

Chapter Third, - - - - -- - 47 

Visit of Rev. Sheldon Jackson, I). !>., at the 
Pima Agency and Mr. Cook's commission as 
a missionary of the Presbyterian Church. 

Chapter Fourth, - - - - - - sr 

The Pima Indians, their manners and customs, 
by Rev. Isaac T. Whittemore. 

Chapter Fifth, - - ' -= - - - 97 

The Ladies' Union Mission School Association 
and its connection with the mission to the 

Pimas. 

Chapter Sixth, - 115 

The Gila River Reservation, climate, soil, pro- 
ductions and ancient ruins. 

An old missionary's story. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

r. Mission House and Chapel at Pima 
Agency. 

^ 2. Antonio Azul — his son and grandson. 

V 3- A Pima village. 

nJ 4 The Giant Cactus of Arizona. 

i 5. The Casa Grande Ruin. 



INTRODUCTION 



The object of the present volume is to 
show the providence of God in the fulfill- 
ment of his purpose to send the gospel to the 
friendly Indians living on the Gila river 
reservation in the territory of Arizona. 

The condition of these Indians, with their 
deprivation of the privileges enjoyed by other 
inhabitants of our highly favored country, 
was brought to our knowledge through the 
officers of the U. S. Army in the year 1868. 

These officers. General Frederick Town- 
send and Gen. A. J. Alexander being on 
military duty in Arizona, became acquainted 
with the Pima and Maricopa Indians, and 
when, a few years later an association of 
ladies in the state of New York was found to 
promote mission work in our country, an 
appeal was made to them in behalf of the 
Indians of the Gila river reservation, Gen. 
A. J. Alexander, then stationed at Fort Mc- 
Dowell, Arizona, addressed to one of the 
members of the new association the follow- 
inir letter : 



6 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Fort McDowell, Arizona, Ter. 
October iS, 1868. 
" I have just returned from a ten days' scout in the 
mountains, which was very successful. I was accom- 
panied by one hundred Pima and Maricopa Indians, 
whose wild ways and picturesque appearance were 
highly interesting. I have acquired a great deal of 
influence over them, since I led the whole band in a 
charge over hills, rocks and streams. After my return I 
had a very interesting conversation with Antonio Azul, 
the chief of the Pimas, who told me he would welcome 
any person I would send to teach them, and that the 
children should go to school. These Indians are docile 
and friendly, and easily approached. As several white 
men reside near them, who speak their language per- 
fectly, it could be easily acquired. I told Antonio that 
the good people in the east, who loved the Indians, 
would send a good man to come and live there and teach 
them ; that he did not want land or money from them, 
but would come only to do them good, and whatever he 
told them would be good, and he could trust him. Pie 
said it was very good and wanted to know when he 
would come.'" 

A letter was subsequently received from 
Mrs. Alexander, in which she said, that her 
husband before leaving the post on military 
duty desired her "to urge upon her friends 
at home, the importance of sending a mis- 
sionary or teachers to this interesting tribe of 
Indians, now living in the heart of Arizona. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 7 

" There are about five thousand souls in this 
tribe and though they have been living- for 
two or three generations in their present 
reservation, cultivating the soil in a rude way, 
they are still sunk in the lowest depth of 
heathenish superstition." 

" The most intelligent of the Indians — and 
there are many such — are anxious for instruc- 
tion. There are two white men living at their 
villages, — (one of them a licensed trader) — 
who have a thorough acquaintance with their 
language, and could assist a new-comer in 
acquiring it. They make it their boast that 
they have never killed a white man, but that 
while they are at deadly enmity with the 
Apaches, they are the white man s friends." 

It is supposed that there are in Arizona, 
about thirty-four thousand Indians, not one 
of whom has ever yet been instructed in the 
christian faith. 

The president of the new society, Mrs. 
Julia M. Graham, and the secretary, Mrs. 
Florence K. Prentice, were personal friends 
of General and Mrs. Alexander, and being 
warmly attached to them, they entered heart- 
ily into their plans tor the welfare of the 
ndians, with v/hose needs they had become 



8 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

familiar during their residence in the vicinity 
of their reservation. On General Alexander's 
return from his distant post of duty, he was 
invited to meet with the ladies of the associa- 
tion, and at their request, on a subsequent 
visit to Washington, he represented to the 
Department of the Interior, the desire of the 
Indians on the Gila river reservation for 
schools and teachers. A lettef was addressed 
to the Indian commissioner at Washington 
by the association, to which the following 
response was made : 

Washington, June 17, 1869. 

Madam : — I have the pleasure to acknowledge the 
receipt of a letter dated the 7th inst., accompanied by 
a printed report of the Ladies Missionary' Association 
for New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado ; also a letter 
addressed to the Secretary of the Interior of the 8th 
inst. These letters call attention to the project in 
view by the association, of a mission and school among 
the Pima and Maricopa Indians in Arizona, and refer- 
ence is had to a report made by my predecessor to the 
Secretary of the Interior, on the 22d of February last, 
suggesting that the matter should be referred to the 
United States agent, in charge of the Indians, for a 
report as to what would be the best plan to adopt to 
accomplish the desired object. 

The officers of the association, it is represented, are 
anxiously waiting for the report of the agent, as they 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION, 9 

were advised he would be instructed according-ly ; and 
it is asked if the government will make an appropria- 
tion in behalf of the proposed mission and school. In 
reply, I beg leave to remark, there will soon be a new 
superintendent and agent in charge of the Indians of 
Arizona, and as I fully approve of the project of the 
association, I will bear the subject in mind, and require 
the superintendent and agent to give it prompt atten- 
tion. I have no doubt but that an arrangement can be 
made between the department and the association, that 
will be satisfactory, and result in great benefit to the 
Indians. But what amount of money the government 
will appropriate, or what it will agree to* perform can 
eonly be determined upon information, which it is de- 
sired to have furnished by the Indian agent. When 
that shall have been received, your association will be 
duly advised of the conclusion of the department in 

the matter. 

Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

E. S. PARKER, 

Coniinissioner. 

When General Alexander was ordered away 
from Fort McDowell, Col. Geo. B. Sanford, 
U. S. A., who succeeded him in command of 
the post, continued to take a deep interest in 
the welfare of the Pimas and urged the 
appointment of a teacher upon their agent, 
Captain Grossman, U. S. A., who wrote the 
following letter : 



lO THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

U. S. Indian Agency, Sacaton, Arizona, 

July 22, 1S70. 
Mrs. A.J. Alexander, 

Madam :— By advice of Col. Sanford, U. S. A., I 
take the liberty to address you on behalf of the Pima 
and Maricopa Indians which have been placed under 
my charge. The Colonel told me that you had always 
taken a kindly interest in their spiritual welfare, and he 
thought it probable that you might be instrumental in 
sending a missionary to this agency. 

Col. Geo. L. Andrews, U. S. A., superintendent of 
Indian affairs for this territory, and myself have both 
been and are Still anxious to establish a school on this 
reservation, believing that by means of it we may in 
time improve the condition of the interesting Indians, 
residing thereon. Since my arrival here, I have erected 
a commodious agency building in a healthy locality, to 
which I shall remove with my family on the first of 
next month. In it, a school room has been set apart, 
but I am still without a teacher, and see no prospect of 
obtaining the services of one, unless associations in the 
east will lend a helping hand. 

I am inclined to the belief that efforts to christianize 
the Pimas will not be strongly opposed by these 
Indians, but fear that their total indifference to religious 
matters will be, for a time at least, a serious obstacle. 

A missionary sent here, would have to acquire the 
Pima language to a certain extent, and ought to have 
some knowledge of Spanish. The Pima language is 
simple and easily acquired. I have already compiled a 
small vocabulary and my interpreter, Louis, who speaks 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. II 

a little English and very fair Spanish, would render 
every assistance. 

I shall esteem it a favor to hear from you, and sub- 
scribe myself 

Very respectfully yours, 

F. E. GROSSMAN, 

Captain U. S. Army, 
U. S. Special Indian Agent. 

The U. S. government made a liberal pro- 
vision for the erection of buildings at the 
agency and for the support of teachers. 

Simultaneously with the first efforts put forth 
by the Ladies' Association, a deep impres-. 
sion was made upon the mind of an earnest 
christian man in the city of Chicago, III, then 
actively engaged there in the city mission. 

His remarkable call to the mission in Ari- 
zona, is related in the simple narrative, which 
at our request he has written, together with a 
brief sketch of the life of his devoted and 
heroic wife, who may be said to have fallen 
at her post of duty in the service of her coun- 
try, as well as of the Master whom it was her 
delight to serve. 

Rev. Mr. Whittemore, pastor of the church 
at Florence, Arizona, gave the first impulse to 



12 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

this narrative of the Pima mission.* Being a 
member of the same presbytery with Mr. 
Cook, he met with him from time to time and 
on one occasion, when together at Santa Fe, 
New Mexico, Mr. Cook recounted to his 
brother missionary, some of the incidents of 
his journey from Chicago to Arizona in the 
latter part of the year 1870. Mr. Whittemore 

*Rev. Isaac T. Whittemore is the custodian of the 
celebrated " Casa Grande ruin," which is thus men- 
tioned in a notice which emanated from the general 
land office and bears date, Washington, October 15, 
'i86g. " The general land office has received retun>s 
of the survey of township and section lines of five town- 
ships on the Gila river in southern Arizona, containing 
105,252 acres of agriculture and grazing lands, bearing 
evidence of having been formerly under a high state of 
cultivation for centuries and abounding in ruins of 
elaborate and sometime magnificent structures, to 
gether with relics of obliterated races, possessing con- 
siderable knowledge of the arts and manufactures. 
Among the most extensive of the ruins being those 
called Casa Grande, about two miles southeast of the 
junction of the east and south channels of the Gila 
river. These townships embrace the growing towns 
of Adamsville and Florence, of the Fort Yuma and 
Fort Grant wagon roads, as well as numerous pro- 
duptivc farms and pastures, well stocked with cattle and 
sheep." 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 13 

being deeply interested in what he had heard 
of his friend's remarkable experience, urged 
him to write some account of his life, together 
with a sketch of his mission work during 
twenty two years and particularly how he had 
gained an influence over the people whose 
welfare he had earnestly sought to promote. 
This, the modest missionary was reluctant to 
do, but through the encouragement given by 
Mr. Whittemore, who spenc some time with 

• 

him at his station at Sacaton, the following 
brief sketch of his mission work was prepared 
and is now given to the christian community, 
in the hope that other tribes of Indians may 
receive the gospel with all its attendant bless- 
ings and that men and women will be found 
consecrated to the work of bringing the light 
of the gospel to many now ''sitting in dark- 
ness," and " in the region and shadow of 
death." 

In the correspondence which preceded the 
publication of the present volume is the fol- 
lowing reference to Mr. Cook and his mission 
by Rev. Isaac T. Whittemore, pastor of the 
church at Florence, Arizona. " When con- 
templating the publication of a brief history 
of the Pima mission, I wrote to General O. 



14 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

O. Howard, asking a few words in regard to 
the missionary whose interesting narrative is 
here introduced, and soon received the fol- 
lowing letter in reply :" 

Head-quarters Department of the East, 

Governor's Island, New York, 

January 5, 1893. 
Dear Sir : 

Your letter is received. Yes, I became acquainted 
with Mr. Cook in 1872, when I was sent by President 
Grant to Arizona and New Mexico, to settle difficulties 
arising between tribes of Indians with each other, and 
with white men, and endeavors to make peace with the 
only tribe of Apaches (Cochises) then at war. 

At that time Mr. Cook had two schools under his 
charge, one at the Pima agency and the other near a 
Maricopa village. He had taught the children of 
these tribes to read and speak English fairly well. 

His history was so remarkable that I have often 
recalled the points of it. 

First. — A soldier, in probably the volunteer service, 
and on duty in New Mexico, and afterwards in the Army 
of the Potomac. 

Second. — After being mustered out, a citizen, and 
then a city missionary in Chicago. 

Third — xA remarkable conversion to God, and an im- 
pression on his mind that he must go as a missionary to 
the Pimas. 

Foiirih. — Filling his trunk with a melodeon, and few 
necessaries, and starting out with insufficient money to 
reach his destination. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 15 

Fifth, — Mr. Cook joined a bull-train after leaving 
the railroad in Kansas, and went on with it as far as 
Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Sixth. — Stopping with a train over Sunday near a min- 
ing camp. Upon making inquiry he was invited to 
preach in a large saloon, the only available room. He 
preached a short sermon, reading the scriptures, lead- 
ing the singing, in which many joined. At the close a 
man with a tall hat, declared that the service would not 
be complete without a collection. He passed the tall 
hat and received — if I remember rightly — some sixteen 
or seventeen dollars which he gave to Mr. Cook. 

Seventh. — Thus he was enabled to reach his destina- 
tion with some money in his pocket after a sixteen weeks' 
journey and preaching tour. He first learned the Pima 
language and then taught the children as I have said ; 
they spoke the English with a German accent. 

Eighth. — He acted as my interpreter when I brought 
a combined delegation of Arizona Indians from that 
territory to Washington. He helped me in the essen- 
tial councils and settlements of difficulties in Arizona. 

Ninth. — He corresponded with and visited a beauti- 
ful German woman, as full of christian zeal as himself. 
He married her, I think in Chicago, and transported 
her to Arizona, and there they have done the grand 
work with which you are acquainted. I believe that 
his original German name was Koch when translated, is 
Cook. 

These nine items are substantially as the history of 
this wonderful young man lies in my mind. I wish all 



l6 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

ministers and missionaries were as able, as devoted and 
successful as he has been. 

Very truly yours, 

O. O. HOWARD, 
Major- Gene7'al, U. S, Army." 



Mr. Whittemore further writes under date, 
Florence, Arizona, Ter., 
May 22, 1893. 

I have been intimately acquainted with Rev. C. H. 
Cook, the missionary to these Indians for five years, 
and a more devoted and conscientious man I have 
never known. 

His "call" from missionary work in Chicago, where 
he was an intimate friend of D, L. Moody, was provi- 
dential. As you will see, Gen. Andrew J. Alexander, 
an officer of the United States Army, who was here on 
duty in 1868, became interested in the welfare of this 
tribe and wrote an article that was published in the 
Neia York Evan<j;elisi, which met the eye of Mr. Cook, 
and this was the " finger of Providence " that pointed 
him to this field. He "was not disobedient to the 
heavenly vision," so, leaving his work there, he came 
at his own charges and began here. 

It was doubtless in answer to the prayers of those 
Tadies who were looking for the man promised to Chief 
Antonio by Gen. Alexander, that God chose, in the 
person of Brother Cook, the expected teacher. He 
was fitted by nature, education, and grace, for this, his 
great life-work. His army life of three years or more, 
prepared him for the rough and isolated position. His 
patience, coolness, prudence, honesty, perseverance and 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 17 

consecration, have given also a fitness for the work, 
such as but few men possess. His aim has been, from 
the first, to cliristianize parents and children, as the 
primary step toward civilization and citizenship. 

His efforts have met with remarkable success. He 
is reapinji^ where he has sown, and the fruit already 
gathered is but a foreshadowing of what must follow. 
He loves the Indians and they love him. What he says, 
they believe. They know him well. He has studied 
their character and temperament and taught them by 
precept and example, to love God. A wonderful change 
has been wrought in them, externally and internally. 
The Indian nature has been supplanted by the Divine, 
and the fighting principle is no longer there. 

The ladies who were the instruments in God's hand of 
bringing him here, "wrought better than they knew.' 
If they could have seen these Indians as they 7ve7'e, 
when Missionary Cook c?,me, over twenty years since, 
and see them non', packing the chapel each Sabbath, 
eager listeners to the truth, ' clothed and in their right 
minds," they would rejoice and thank God. 

Brother Cook is too modest to tell, or have published, 
the trials and sacrifices of his work. He desires to 
give God all the glory, and keep self in the background, 
while he simply tells us much of his Indians, and very 
little of himself, or the part he has taken in their eleva- 
tion. We who have known him long, love him well. 
If we can induce others to go and do a similar work 
for other tribes, our purpose in helping to prepare this 
little volume will be accomplished. 



CHAPTER I. 

At the request of the Ladies' Union Mis- 
sion School Association, Mr. Cook has given 
the following brief account of his journey to 
Arizona in 1870 and some important events of 
his life. 

Sacaton, (Pima Reservation), Arizona, 

March 22, i8q3. 
To Ihc Correspondiiii^- Secretary of the Ladies' Union 
Mission School Association : 

Dear Friend — I will now, in compliance with your 
request, try to give you some account of the history of 
my life and of my coming to this field of labor. 

When but a little child of less than six months of 
age. I was left both fatherless and motherless. 

" When my father and my mother forsake me, then 
the Lord will take me up." " A father of the fatherless." 
How thankful we ought to be for such gracious 
promises ! 

When barely able to speak, both of my grandmothers 
would not permit me to go to sleep evenings without 
praying, that the blood of Christ, God's Son, might 
cleanse me and keep me from all sin. From that time 
forward I liave seldom neglected to pray to God. 

My father, grandfather, and great grandfather hav- 
ing been public school teachers in Germany, it was the 
desire of my grandfather to give me a good education. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. I9 

So, when ten years of age. I was sent to a first-class 
city school, high school and seminary. About the time 
of my confirmation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 
I feit some of the strivings of the Holy Spirit, also 
some desire to devote my life to foreign missions. 

But some time after, partly on account of my great 
esteem for one of my professors, I was led, through 
his materialistic teachings, to disbelieve the Bible and 
the Divinity of our Lord and my foolish heart was 
darkened. 

Emigrating to New Orleans, I worked for some time 
in a drug store, which has since proved of advantage to 
me. Being afterwards ill-treated by a German, I con- 
cluded to go to sea. 

At this time I prayed the Lord earn es I h'io direct me. 
This the Lord did in a remarkable way and I found a 
situation on a ship. The captain, a Massachusetts 
man, was a noble christian ; he treated me fully as well 
as though I had been his own son. This good man 
gave me tracts, invited me to attend the seamen's 
chapels and paid me more at times, than at first agreed 
to. But what a perverse heart was mine ! I might have 
passed for a good Unitarian or a moral materialist, my 
heart was a stranger to the God to whom I prayed. 

One evening, in the Mediterranean Sea, I fell over- 
board and the Lord graciously saved me from a watery 
grave and from dying the death of an unbeliever, but 
this did not turn me from my wicked unbelief. 

With this captain I spent some very happy years and 
gained much in health and strength of body. 

The captain then left off going to sea, for a while ; 
sailing with the new captain I did not feel at home and 



20 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

not long^ after, I shipped luithoiit asking Divine direc- 
tion, with the former second mate, who was then first 
mate of another ship. 

Here we received the most outrageous treatment and 
the sailors were plotting to throw the inhuman captain 
overboard or at least to put him in chains and keep him 
in conhnement until we should reach Liverpool. Our 
first mate, however, learning of the plot, advised the 
men to desist, as we were nearing the Irish coast and 
as it was about the time of the March equinoctial 
storms. We soon reached St. George's channel and 
having taken a pilot on board, we learned that our 
captain had won the race with the captain of the clipper- 
ship, I'itian. Then a terrific storm burst upon us ; our 
only safety was a small harbor north of Liverpool, 
where, after the tide left us, we found ourselves high 
and dry on the beach. Most of the sailors ran away 
the first night. The captain promised those of us who 
would remain, a handsome reward ; we stayed, but the 
reward did not reach us. 

On our return voyage on another ship, our treatment 
was better. Our first mate, the captain's son, often told 
me how happy he would be if he could only have forty 
acres of land in the wilderness, a yoke of oxen, and a 
little cabin and there earn his living. This made a 
deep and strange impression upon me. He never 
reached his home alive, and his father had been the 
cause of his death. This took away from me all ambi- 
tion of ever becoming the captain and owner of a fine 
ship. 

The war having broken out, I enlisted in Rochester, 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 2 I 

N. Y., and while waiting to go to the front, I attended 
the Presbyterian Brick Church. Dr. Shaw preached 
on Christ cleansing the lepers, and on the leprosy of 
heathenism cleansed by Divine power through the 
instrumentality of missionaries. 

This sermon affected me greatly and after joining 
the battery, listening to the chaplain and seeing the 
walk of some christian fellow soldiers, I was led to the 
Saviour. 

From that time on, my army life, though full of hard- 
ships and dangers, was a happy one. As a No. i at a 
gun and shortly after as gunner, I was in many a battle 
exposed to the fire of the enemy, but I did not receive 
a scratch. 

At one time, lying on my blankets close to the Jeru- 
salem plank road near Petersburg, not far from the 
rebel lines and thinking of the many lives sacrificed, 
of the many homes made desolate, of the wounded at 
times lying between the lines, suffering great agonies, 
the thought came to me, how can it be that the Lord 
permits all this ? I fell asleep and then thought I could 
see far above the battle field, two beings, who had 
power to stop the war at any time and power to pro- 
tect the life of any single individual. This dream 
greatly comforted me, and when some time after we 
ceased shooting at each other on Sundays, and we 
could hear the voice of prayer and praise, and the 
preaching of the chaplains on both sides of the line, I 
then thought that the war would soon end. 

How much ill-feeling it would have saved on both 
sides if we, like brave General Grant, had only looked 
at the great war as a national punishment for sin. 



22 THE PIxMA INDIAN MISSION. 

After the war was over, I thought of settling on a 
farm in Illinois, but stopped for a while at the home of 
a comrade in New York state. There being no Pres- 
byterian Church near, 1 joined the M. E. Church. 
One day I accidentally cut my foot. Perhaps some of 
my neighbors thought, that having come unhurt from 
the war, vengeance was still following me. 

After five months 1 was able to walk, though still 
lame. I found work in a bank in Chicago and was led 
afterwards into city mission work. I received a good 
salary ; the Lord prospered my work and the outlook 
was very promising. 

At one time boarding near where they were excava- 
ting the Washington street tunnel, I was sick with 
diphtheria. I had no one to stay with me and so 1 was 
alone most of the time. The medicine did not seem to 
give relief and I was rapidly getting worse. I prayed 
the Lord if pleasing in his sight that I should die, that 
He might let me die with some other sickness. But 
my throat kept getting worse, I could only breathe 
with great difficulty. 1 then heard such heavenly music 
as I never expect to hear again in this world. The 
room seemed to be full of heavenly beings. I con- 
cluded that I had died and began to fear that I might 
get well again. After a little I could again feel the 
pain in my throat but a few days after I got well. (I 
have since learned that pure fresh air, an outward 
appliance of sweet oil and croton oil mixed, and a 
gargle of permangenate of potash is a good treatment 
for diphtheria). 

I read the life of David Brainard and often thought 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 23 

of him and his Indians. I think it was in 1868 or '6g 
I got hold of a copy of the New York Evangelist. I 
read in it an article from an army officer about the 
Pima Indians of Arizona, and of their great need of 
teachers and missionaries. 

At first I did not pay much attention to it and I did 
not ket'p the paper. I was thinking of preparing 
myself and then to go as missionary to China. But 
from that time forward, for a year or more, the article 
which I had read without much thought would still 
present itself to me. 

V\ hen I prayed over the matter, T would always feel 
more convinced that I ought to go to the Pima Indians. 
In reading the Bible I was greatly surprised to find so 
many passages in both Old and New Testament refer- 
ing to the sending of the gospel to the heathen. 

I saw some of my friends and brethren go away to 
India and China with their necessary expenditures all 
provided for and I was glad of it. But the M. E. 
Church at that time had no money to spare for sending 
the gospel to the Indians. 

Inquiring at Washington as to the Indian affairs in 
Arizona, I was informed that things were very un- 
settled in Arizona and that it would not be safe to go 
forth on such an enterprise at that time. The thought 
then came to me that the same Lord who had pro- 
tected me during the war could also protect me in 
Arizona, and as to my temporal support, the same God 
who provided for George MuHer's orphans must be able 
to provide for me, as long as I was willing to work. 

On my first journey to Arizona and often since, my 
army experience has been of great help to me. 



24 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

September i, 1870, with a good supply of clothing, 
tent, blankets, a small melodeon, a Winchester rifle, 
some groceries and a few cooking utensils, I left 
Chicago. 

Through the kindness of a fellow-laborer of the Epis- 
copal Church, I received railroad passes to Kansas City 
where I stopped over Sunday. Attending church, I 
unexpectedly met a former Chicago friend, who kindly 
invited me to his house, and who on Monday procured 
me a pass to Kit Carson, so that instead of being out 
about $6.00 for keeping the Sabbath, I gained some 
$15.00 or more. As we moved further west, towns 
became fev/ and far between. On some part of the 
railroad, troops were stationed to protect the road and 
stations against hostile Indians. At some places we 
could see buffaloes from the car windows. 

Kit Carson, Kansas, my terminus on the railroad, 
looked like a very hard place, yet near by we beheld a 
small church and school house, showing how quickly 
these railroads help to move forward christian civiliza- 
tion. 

Upon inquiry I was told that a mule train had left a 
little before for Prescott, Arizona. So I took the stage, 
fare $16.00 or 25 cents per mile, to Bent's Fort, or trad- 
ing place. During the night we saw a rainbow by moon- 
light. 

At the stage station I waited several days. The Pres- 
cott train arrived on Sunday, but some lady passengers 
objected to having a preacher travel with them. 

Mr. Price, the kind station keeper learning of my 
errand, instead of charging me $15.00, the usual price, 
was well satisfied with a few sermons instead. It also 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 25 

pleased him to join in singing some of the old familiar 
hymns, which he had not heard for years. 

Monday evening a Mexican ox train came along ; 
the train was not heavy loaded, and the wagon-master 
was willing to take me to Santa Fe, N. M., at a reason- 
able rate. No one of the Mexicans could talk English, 
so I made good progress in the Spanish language. 

We made good time with the ox train, traveling by 
day and by night. We soon overtook the Prescott 
train. The only difiticulty which I encountered was 
that the Mexicans, like most whites out here, would 
travel on Sundays. 

On our first Sunday evening, a Mexican robber came 
into camp. He eyed my Winchester rifle so sharply 
that the wagon-master noticed it and cautioned me. 
The next day, late in the evening he offered to help 
bring in the oxen for the night journey. He then 
imitated the howl of a prairie wolf to perfection, then 
stole the wagon-master's mule and pony and decamped. 
All of this undoubtedly would not have happened, had, 
we not traveled on Sunday. 

Traveling on the next Sunday and camping in the 
mountains near Los Vegas, an ox was stolen and after 
the following day we had to wait three days for the 
wagon-master's brother, who was to take the train to 
Santa Fe. 

vSaturday, Oct. i. — Just one month from Chicagor 
We encamped about fifty miles from Santa Fe. I con- 
cluded to take a little clothing and rifle and to walk on 
ahead of the train, until the stage should overtake me, 
and then if there was room, 1 would go on with it to 
the town. When the stage came up to me, I secured 



26 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

passage and thus reached Santa Fe, Saturday evening. 
Rev. Dr. and Mrs. McFarland gave me a warm wel- 
come. I preached for the good brother morning and 
evening, the chapel being full each time. They also 
had a large Sunday school. Here I learned that a good 
Presbyterian sister was already employed by the church, 
to labor among New Mexico's Indians. The thought 
came to me, if a defenceless woman can live and labor 
among the savages, there ought to be hope for a man 
who had seen war. 

Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 4. — Feeling much refreshed 
and after Mrs. McFarland had supplied me with a good 
three days' lunch, I left Santa Fe with another ox train 
for Albuquerque, where we arrived Friday, Oct. 7, and 
where I had to stay until Nov. 5. But this gave me 
an opportunity to preach the gospel and to do other 
kinds of missionary work. 

During one Sunday a Union soldier traveling with a 
mule train on that day, had fallen from the wagon and 
was killed. The government agent requested me to 
assist him in giving the departed a decent burial. This 
we did, with a number of whites and Mexicans attend- 
ing. 

At Albuquerque, being now not far from the haunts 
of the Apaches, my purse got so low that I had to 
part with my Winchester rifle. 

The kind postmaster, Mr. Herner, a German Catho- 
lic, of whom I rented a room, did not want to see me 
cook my own meals, so he only charged me $15.00 for 
four weeks' board, instead of $10.00 a week, the usual 
rate at that time. 



The PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 2"] 

Nov. 4, a large number of recruits arrived for the 
regular army, in charge of four young officers, with one 
officer's wife. They represented difTerent church 
denominations, the officer in charge being a Methodist. 

All were glad to have me travel with them and 
insisted on my sharing their mess. This I did with 
some misgivings, having doubts as to whether my purse 
could stand the strain. This, however, subsequently 
proved to be so light that I did not feel it at all. Here 
I had opportunities to preach to the soldiers evenings. 
Camping some four miles from Escondida, I started 
out early one morning on an errand, and with some 
books from an Albuquerque friend, to the house of a 
Mr. Baca, who had been advised of my coming. He 
could not talk English but, greeted me in polite Spanish, 
" How do you do, my brother ? " He then introduced 
me to his excellent wife and grown up children, and 
soon we sat down to a good breakfast. I could see 
at once that the brother was an educated and polished 
gentleman as well as a noble christian. I asked him 
how long he had been a Protestant ; he told me that he 
had been such since boyhood in the city of Mexico. 
The brother urged me to stop and stay with him : 
gladly would I have done so. After promising him to 
do all I could toward having a preacher sent to him 
and his neighborhood, I bade him and his family 
good-bye. 

Thursday, Nov. lo, we arrived at Fort Craig ; Major 
Coleman commanding, I pitched my tent outside with 
the recruits. But the major although a Catholic, soon 
came to me and insisted that I should be his guest 
during my stay at the fort. 



28 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

On the following ^Sunday, I had the privilege of 
preaching to the infantry companies in the forenoon, 
and to the cavalry in the evening, the major as well as 
the other officers and their wives, attending both 
meetings. 

Some of the officers and recruits stopped at that 
place. 

Tuesday morning, a few hours before starting again, 
three Mexican brethren from Peralto had come some 
seventy miles or more, requesting me earnestly to go 
back with them and be their preacher. With a nearly 
empty purse and with about 6oo miles before me, this 
was a temptation tome. I told them that I was on my 
way to the Indians, but that it would not be long until 
they could have a Protestant preacher. They then 
requested me to accept some nice apples, (nearly a half 
bushel,) this I did, and then bade them God speed. 

At Fort McRae we were kindly received by Captain 
Shorkley and others. Saturday, November iQth, we 
arrived at Fort Sheldon. Captain Fachet kindly enter- 
tained me. Being a Frenchman and a Catholic, he 
was afraid that the soldiers were too rough for Sunday 
services. However, he attended three meetings and 
was agreeably surprised at the good behavior of his 
soldiers. 

November 23 we arrived at Fort Cummings ; here 
Captain Hedberg, a German, took care of me. Here 
I bought some groceries and the post-surgeon kindly 
gave me a little medicine, some bacon and tea. Cash 
on hand, 25 cents, with about 400 miles of road still 
ahead of me ; this made me feel a little blue and I was 
thinking of Christ feeding the five thousand. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 29 

Arrived at the town of Mimbers, (not very far from 
the present Deming,) November 24. Here I had to 
bid farewell to my liind army friends. As I had plenty 
of good clothing, they probably thought that my purse 
yet contained several hundreds of dollars. 

Having a message to a Jewish firm from Albu- 
querque, they kindly invited me to make my home with 
them. After preaching in the evening, I received sev- 
eral invitations by good sisters to stay at their homes, 
or at least to come and eat with them on the next day. 
Providentially on the next day, a Mexican ox train was 
ready to start for Fort Bowie. The kind wagon- 
master, though heavy loaded, was willing to take my 
baggage free. I persuaded him to keep my watch 
chain until redeemed. I walked nearly all the time, 
from twenty to thirty miles a day ; this, however, made 
me lame on the foot which I had cut. Stopping over 
one day not far from a large mining camp, I visited it. 
Upon inquiry I was told that the men would like to 
have me preach to them in the evening. It being a 
little cold they had transformed a large saloon into a 
chapel, all the bottles, etc., having disappeared behind 
the counter. The place was crowded, the singing 
demonstrated that many of the miners had been at 
church before. At the close, one of the men took his 
hat and said that the service was not complete without 
a collection. I was thus enabled to pay the freighter 
well and still have $6.40 on hand. 

Arrived at Fort Bowie, Sunday, December 5, at 
8 A. M. Here I met Captain Russell. I had once 
fought side by side with this brave officer, before he 



30 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

was promoted. He was an Irish Catholic, the son of 
a pious mother, whose prayers, I have no doubt, fol- 
lowed her son all his life. The captain was very glad 
to see me and glad to have me share his quarters and 
table for some twelve days. He would accompany me 
Sundays and other evenings, preaching to the soldiers 
and in all devotional exercises. At times he would tell 
me of his exploits and often narrow escapes from that 
great warrior, " Cochise," and I would tell him of my 
exploits as city missionary at Chicago, how at times 
some of his zealous country women would try and drive 
me away with a broomstick, or poker, while others 
would invite me to dinner and at times to have prayers 
with them. 

Dec. 17, I had an opportunity to travel to Tucson. 
Capt. Russell not only supplied me with all necessary 
rations, but also handed me $10, telling me to take it, as 
I might need it. I have since had the pleasure of 
meeting the captain at this place. 

On our way to Tucson, we were overtaken by a great 
snowstorm. When within twenty miles of Tucson, we 
picked up two wounded Mexican teamsters , they had 
been wounded and one of their number killed on vSun- 
day forenoon, and their oxen had been driven off by 
Cochise's warriors, all of which, likely, would not have 
happened, had they not traveled on Sunday. 

Friday, Dec. 23, 1870, I arrived at Pima Agency, 
with nearly as much cash on hand as I had when I left 
Albuquerque. Capt. (irossman, a German and an army 
officer, was the agent. He and his noble christian 
^ife gave me a hearty welcome,. The agent took me 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 3 1 

over the reservation, and on Jan 1, 1871, I received an 
appointment as goverment teacher. 

My health was excellent, and the journey, especially 
that part of it when I had little or no means of my own, 
through the wild Apache country, had benefited me 
greatly. 

During the time since I had left the railroad, I had 
preached twenty-two times, I had given many other 
addresses, and had many conversations with individuals 
on the subject of religion, so that the scanty provision 
for my long journey and my frequent straits turned out 
" rather to the furtherance of the gospel." It was not 
until several months after I reached the agency at 
Sacaton that I learned that there were others beside 
myself, who were anxious to have the gospel and chris- 
tian civilization brought to a people, who are perishing 
for want of it. You had been trying for two years, to 
find somebody to go to these Indians, while I had been 
trying for that length of time to find an opportunity 
to go. 

On receiving the circular, referring to a mission to 
the Pima Indians — I read it with the deepest interest 
and felt like saying the Lord bless our sisters in their 
noble work and may none of us grow weary in well- 
doing, knowing that the promise is sure. " In due 
time ye shall reap, if ye faint not." 



Twenty-five .years after the interview be- 
tween General Alexander and the Chief of the 
Pimas, Antonio Azul, [to which reference has 
been made,] and to whom the general gave 



32 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

his promise that teachers should be sent to 
his people, Mr. Cook received a visit from 

the now aged chief, of which he writes as 

follows : 

Sacaton, Ariz., March 29, 1S93, 
Antonio Azul, (or '' Koe Wadthk," Chief of the 
Pimas and Maricopas,) has just paid me a visit. He is 
probably about seventy-tive years of age. lie still 
works his own farm, with some grandchildren assisting 
him. Among other things, I asked him " if he remem- 
bered an army officer by the name of General Alex- 
ander ?" This question seemed to have a wonderful 
effect upon him and at once seemed to bring before him 
vividly, the scenes of the past. He gave me quite a 
piece of history, of those early days in Arizona. Among 
other things, he told me something like this : I remem- 
ber the general very well ; I remember his long beard ; 
he was a very, very good man. (Se, se, aw-aw-tam). I 
was with him on two campaigns in the mountain region, 
back of Fort McDowell. In the first scout, alter trav- 
eling mostly nights, over very difficult trails and steep 
mountains and mountain sides. We came upon a camp 
of Apaches, engaged in a drunken feast. The Apache 
lookout saw us, but not in time to prevent our attack 
upon them, which resulted in the loss to them of nine 
of their number, including their chief warrior. 

In our second expedition we were also successful and 
the Apaches lost seven of their band, besides some 
who were taken prisoners. I captured a bright looking 
boy, some twelve years of age. 

The general then requested me to take good care of 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. . 33 

the captive ; not to sell him into slavery in Sonora, 
Mexico, but to treat him as one of the family, to teach 
him to work and how to earn a living without stealing 
and murdering people as the Apaches were doing ; and 
above all to see to it that none of the Pimas would harm 
him. I promised the general I would do so. 

Some time after this, a large herd of Texas cattle 
passed through our country on the way to California. 
Many of our people, being hungry, stole some fifty 
head of them. 

General Alexander, with a small company of cavalry, 
came here to look into this matter. Kiho Chimkum, 
one of our war-chiefs, in a council, advised the Indians 
that as they were unable to pay for the cattle, they had 
better arm at once, and fight the N. Y. troops. 

He soon had some three hundred warriors ready, 
armed and painted for war, with the thirty or forty sol- 
diers of the general. After a few days of delay and 
plenty of good advice from the general, who told them 
that the U. S. Government only sought the toelfare of 
the Indians, and not their destruction and my telling 
them the same, our people were persuaded to desist. 

Those of us who had been with General Alexander, 
fully believed that whatever he would advise us, would 
be for our good. After this, all our people thought even 
more of the general, than before, and as his name was 
rather difticult for most of us to remember and to pro- 
nounce, we called him Chue-wa-oespo (long beard). 

Antonio gave me a detailed account of all the inci- 
dents in the war with the Apaches. He, as well as 
many others of his tribe, has lost many relatives, killed 



34 I'HE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

by them. I need not remind you of the influence for 
good or evil, military men, as well as civil officers and 
employes of government often exert upon the Indians, 
a matter too often lost sight of. When I kept school 
here, Antonio, who kept his promise concerning the 
captive, sent him here to attend school. Louista, the 
Apache, was one of my best scholars ; a very faithful 
worker and perfectly honest and reliable. He mar- 
ried a Pima girl and lived happily with her and it was 
a great grief to him, as well as to his young wife, 
when her father took her away from Louista and gave 
her to a wicked trader for pay. Louista, for a long 
time, felt very badly about this, as also did his young 
wife, and after General Howard's treaty of peace 
between the Apaches and Pimas, he went to the San 
Carlos Reservation where he married an Apache 
woman. His children are now attending a government 
school and Antonio told me, that Louista, his former 
slave, has since his going to the San Carlos Reserva- 
tion, prevented by his wise counsel, an outbreak of 
the San Carlos Apaches. 

I once had hopes of seeing Louista become a mission- 
ary to his people. Perhaps, in his present relations to 
his tribe, he may be to them now, a true missionary, a 
messenger of peace and a promoter of " good-will to 
men." He has doubtless accomplished for the welfare 
of his people far more than we are now aware of, and 
all with the blessing of God, through the few kind 
words spoken in his behalf, by General Alexander. 
Respectfully, 

CHARLES H. COOK. 




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CHAPTER II. 

Mrs. Cook's Missionary Life. 

Mrs. Chas. H. Cook was born at Berlin, 
Germany, June, 1854. Her maiden name was 
Anna M. Bath. Her mother was a faithful 
and sincere christian. She had been disin- 
herited for marrying a Protestant, as she was 
brought up in the Roman Catholic church. 
The parents of Miss Bath, desirous of givmg 
her a good education, sent her to the Ursuline 
Convent, one of the best schools in Berlin. 
Here she studied the common German 
branches and the French and English lan- 
guages. She also learned to do all kinds of 
needle and fancy work. 

After emigrating to America, the family, 
except the mother, united with the German 
M. E. Church, in Chicago, 111. In July, 1872, 
Miss Bath became my wife and since that 
time, with the exception of three visits to her 
parents, her home was with the Pima Indians 
of Arizona. 

In those early days, travel out here was 
very expensive, and often tiresome. We took 
a train from Chicago to San Francisco, thence 



o 



6 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 



by steamer via Gulf of California to the 
mouth of the Colorado river, and from there 
by a river-boat to Yuma. From Yuma we 
had to travel by stage i8o miles, which took 
fully two days and nights. On our first trip 
we had a delightful time until we reached 
Yuma. On our first night out, we were over- 
taken by a terrible thunder storm, during 
which we reached a small way-station near 
midnight. Here we found a number of Mex- 
icans, drmking, gambling and quarreling. 
At one of these stations, a short time previous, 
the Mexicans had killed a man, his wife and 
two children, and had taken the stage-horses 
and other valuables to Sonora, Mexico. After 
the storm had passed, fresh horses were put 
on, and we were thankful to be on the road 
again. We reached the agency, as may be 
supposed, tired and sleepy. Mrs. Stout, the 
agent's wife, had arrived a year before and 
thus we had two white ladies for several years 
at this place. At that time there were prob- 
ably not more than fifty or sixty white ladies 
in the whole country, even including the 
wives of army ofiftcers. 

During the first year, Mrs. Cook was em- 
ployed by the government as assistant teacher. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 37 

Previously, most, if not all of the sewing and 
weaving had been done by men. Being an 
expert in dress-making, &c., it was not long 
before she had more than thirty school girls 
busy at work with the needle. Hencefor- 
ward, for about eight years, most of the dress- 
cutting and much of the sewing, for young 
and old, was done by Mrs. Cook. After the 
first year, however, having tiie care of a fam- 
ily, she would receive no more salary, though 
she often worked hard, to help in school and 
other work. 

Besides being a loving and faithful wife 
and devoted mother, she possessed many qual- 
ities that fitted her for her position. There 
was no such thing as cowardice in her nature. 

While visiting our relatives one summer, 
the agent neglected to send our check when 
due. The little one, our first-born also not 
being well, we concluded that it was best for 
her to remain with her parents and try to 
meet me at Yuma about Christmas. All 
went well with her in the sleeping-car and at 
sea, she was never troubled with sea-sickness. 
When I came to Yuma, the steamer did not 
arrive on time. After weary days of anxious 
waiting, we received news that the steamer 



38 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

was lost, but the passengers were safe x\fter 
waiting nearly four weeks, during which time 
I had ample opportunity to preach the gospel 
in Yuma, and at the Military Post, one even- 
ing, the river-boat arrived, to our great joy, 
bringing the passengers safely. The long 
sea-voyage and delay in the harbor of La Paz 
had greatly benefited the health of my wife 
and baby, for which we had been praying. 
One of the passengers on board, a good old 
Irish lady, greatly enjoyed telling me the next 
morning of the disaster at sea. The captain 
had kindly given my wife and a few others, 
each a state room on deck. Nearing La Paz 
late one evening, the steamer had struck a 
rock, which had caused a leak. The captain 
told my wife that there was nothing serious, 
so she retired and slept quietly until morning. 
The cabin passengers below, had sat up all 
night with life-preservers on ; men, women 
and children, for eight long hours, awaiting 
the summons to get into the boats. At 
La Paz, the leak was stopped, but the next 
incoming steamer brought the passengers to 
the river. 

At another time, when earning our bread 
by trading for a Mr. Hayden — a gentleman, 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 39 

well known in Arizona, and who paid us well 
for our services — for two years we lived in a 
very lonely, deserted place, about ten miles 
from the agency. Here we slept under a 
tent. A large number of coyotes (prairie 
wolves) sounded the reveille at day break or 
gave us a nocturnal concert. After opening 
the store, a large number of Indians, well 
armed, threatened to tie me to a tree and use 
me as a target for the wild young Indians, if 
I would not, within twenty four hours, con- 
cede to some of their unreasonable demands. 
Their object was to frighten us and make us 
leave. But we stood our ground, without 
even a revolver, trusting in the Lord. After 
a few more threats, the next day, they kindly 
informed me that I might preach to them, 
but should not trade. I replied that I would 
comply with their request if they would pay 
us enough so that we could live. This put a 
new phase on the subject, and soon after, we 
were kept busy fron day-break until after 
dark, taking in often from 30,000 to 45,000 
pounds of wheat, daily. Shortly after this, 
the Indians came on Sundays and asked me 
to preach to them. Courage inspired confi- 
dence. Mrs. Cook never manifested fear, 



40 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

but was cheerful and happy. But we can 
sympathize with the wives of many of our 
home missionaries far away from relatives 
and church privileges in their isolated desert 
or mountain homes, and with many unmarried 
women, our Presbyterian sisters,at work teach- 
ing Mexicans or Mormons, in these western 
wilds. 

A German brother and sister, who have 
nobly raised a large family of boys and girls, 
offered to take care of my children. One of 
my girls has since that time voluntarily made 
her home with them in Iowa, and enjoys it 
exceedingly. 

During the first nine years of our married 
life, we drew no salary from any missionary 
society. All our wants were supplied and 
sometimes we had abundance. By close 
economy, we saved j^8oo, which we invested 
in land in Iowa, while it was cheap. It is now 
near a town and railroad, and this, with a few 
more buildings, will make a home for the 
children. 

Twice, we were driven away from here by 
wicked agents, but they could not drive away 
Mrs. Cooks' courage ; which, at such times, 
was a great reliance to me. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 41 

We often had no physician within many 
miles. At one time, hundreds of Indians had 
the small-pox. An old Papago squaw, full of 
it, seeing our door open, came into my wife's 
room and asked her for a dress. She gave it, 
but bade her not enter again until she had 
fully recovered. 

In housekeeping here, in those early days, 
we encountered two serious difhculties. We 
could send to New York or Chicago for dry 
goods and clothing and have them sent by 
mail or express ; not so with groceries. 

Our first cooking-stove, a No. 7, cost $S6. 
Sugar was 50 cts. per lb.; canned goods, 75 
cts. to $1 ; coffee, 75 cts.; potatoes from 10 
to 20 cts. per lb.; flour, 7 to 12 cts.; butter, 
^i to $1.25 per lb., etc. And the keeping of 
one horse cost me nearly $100 a year. We 
kept a few fowls, but gardening was useless, 
from lack of water. We now have the rail- 
road within fifteen miles, and the country is 
settling up in some places and prices though 
still high, are not exorbitant. 

Another serious difficulty that we encoun- 
tered was poor shelter, especially in rainy 
weather. 

I will enclose an article from the pen of 



42 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Mrs. A. M. Darley, who with her husband has 
been long at work in Colorado, at present in 
Pueblo, where they publish the Brotherhood, 
in Spanish and English, occasionally. Their 
experience matched ours exactly. 

Before the railroad came, the freight on 
lumber was 15 cts. a pound ! Nearly all the 
houses in New Mexico and Arizona were then 
built with adobes — mud walls, roof and floor- 
The roof was covered with brush and a layer 
of horse manure, mud and ashes. Several 
times we had to put up tents inside the rooms 
to keep the water off the furniture and beds. 
While trading, we built a large house in the 
above manner. A brother, Mr. Irving of the 
M. E. Church, south at Phoenix, whom I had 
met once at a camp meeting, very kindly sent 
me $125, and a Bro. Baldwin of Middletown, 
Conn., sent money and very encouraging let- 
ters. I have never seen him, but hope to 
meet him in heaven. 

It was our aim. then, to make this mission 
self-supporting. 

Dr. Sheldon Jackson, who had once before 
passed this way exploring in the interest of 
home missions called and paid us a visit. 
Mrs. Jackson, at this time accompanied him. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 43 

This good sister afterwards had a long ride 
on an engine, instead of the sleeping car and 
when, crossing the Rio Grande, there was 
danger that all would go down in the flood, 
some brave Pima and Papago boys jumped 
into the river and carried her safely over. 
Dr. Jackson saw how I had to work six days 
in the week and could not do the necessary 
work on Sunday, and suggested the need of a 
better dwelling ; but the railroad was not yet 
near enough to bring lumber at prices within 
reach, so as we had ample room and did not 
wish to burden the church board with the 
expense of a shingle roof, it was postponed. 

But alas ! here was our mistake, for it cost 
me the loss of my dear wife ! Some years 
later we had a long rainy spell and one of 
our boys, about eight years old, who had not 
seen a sick day from the time he was born, 
sickened and died. He trusted in the Saviour, 
whom he had learned to love and obey. Two 
daughters and myself were also sick, but 
recovered. 

In May, 1889, the new Presbytery of Ari- 
zona very kindly elected me as commissioner 
to the general assembly in New York city. I 
requested my wife to go with me to Iowa, 



44 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

and I would come for her and the children 
later, feeling assured that she needed rest. 
But our good mother had quietly fallen 
asleep without any previous illness, in her 7 2d 
year, some time before. On this account, 
my wife said she would not feel at home in 
Iowa without me, and would rather wait 
another year. Her parents and brother had 
removed from Chicago to Iowa in 1878. In 
the early winter of 1889, we had a long spell 
of rainy weather and the house leaked badly. 
As a result two of our children were sick, but 
recovered. My wife became sick, but did 
not seem very ill. I had bought a sewing 
machine and brought it home, and she 
remarked that it ought to be a means of help- 
ing her over her sickness. But the rain 
increased and so did her fever. The agency 
physician treated her disease, but for six days 
she ate nothing. The fever then left her, 
her appetite returned, but her strength rap- 
idly failed, and late in the evening of Decem- 
ber 18, 1889, she breathed her last, leaving a 
husband and seven children to mourn her 
loss. The baby had been weaned about a 
month before her departure. She thus laid 
down her work when it seemed to us and to 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 45 

the Indians, who loved and respected her, 
that she was most needed. 

Our eldest daughter, then but little over 
fourteen years of age has since that time 
done her best to fill the place made vacant by 
her mother's death. 

We have now, thanks to our Home Board 
and a gift from Gen. Townsend, a good par- 
sonage and we hope the time will soon come 
when all our home missionaries and workers 
in the vineyard of the Lord, in this vast west- 
ern country, will have a good roof on their 
dwellings." 



In the experience of our devoted mission- 
aries we have been reminded of the " Mis- 
sionary Poem," which deeply affected our 
hearts, when sent to us by a friend interested 
in the cause of missions and who sympathized 
in the trials and sorrows of the missionary's 
wife. 

" ' Mine own !' he said and clasped her hand 

Her faithful hand within his own, 
' I cannot bear this weary land 

This labor all in vain. * -x- * * 

Come, we'll return ; the hind refrains to sow 

Where nothing springs to reap ; 

We will return to blither plains 

Of c(frn and trees and sheep ; 



46 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION, 

For mine own fatherland I sigh, 

If but to breathe its air and die' 

So, while he mourned — a sudden change 

Crimsoned her cheek and fired her eye ; 

In boldness, to herself most strange 

Spoke out in her reply : 

' Cheer thee, my faithful ! Keep thy trust 

In one above, the just — the wise ; 

Who, though He knows us, frail as dust, 

Our faith and courage tries. 

Our friends are far — but God is near. 

Aye, to this land of gloom and fear ! 

I too, have wrestled with despair 

And weeping, yearned to live and die 

Within some christian dwelling fair 

Of my sweet Germany ! 

But it hath passed and I am strong ; 

The Lord, who sent us here to toil 

Can build the shrine and wake the song 

On this unthankful soil ; 

And bow the heathen heart of stone 

To worship at His lofty throne.' 
******* 

She spoke with such a beaming eye, 

And such a mild benignant brow. 

As angels, coming from on high 

To comfort earth below. 

Her sweet words fell like heavenly dew. 

Upon the pastor's heart of care, 

And side by side, to God anew, 

They bowed themselves in prayer : 

More sweet to see 

Were none that night in Germahy.'' 




A Pima Yilla(;e. 



W 



CHAPTER III. 

Mr. Cook's Account of the Visit He Received 
FROM Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D. 

It was in the seventies when we first had 
the pleasure of meeting Rev. Sheldon Jack- 
son, D. D. He was making the rounds of 
his great parish, bounded at that time, I be- 
lieve, by Nebraska, Kansas and the Indian 
Territory on the east, and California on the 
west. And what a great parish that was ; 
greater in extent and in many places, no doubt, 
more difficult to travel through than the old 
parish of Brother Paul. 

Here were the oldest settlers in the United 
States, speaking many different languages, 
some of them hard to be understood. Some 
of these tribes made travel through their 
countries anything but safe. 

Here were also the Mexicans and Mormons, 
miners and prospectors and a grand army from 
the east, marching as it were, ahead of the 
advancing railroads, to occupy the great 
Rocky Mountain region. 

Here not far from the great Pike's Peak, 
our brother with his wife and children, set 



48 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

up the banner of the cross. From thence 
they sent forth the Rocky Mountain Presby- 
terian^ and often while the good sister held 
the fort at home, the brother was absent, 
exploring the country and preaching the gos- 
pel. Not in a Pullman palace car, however, 
but mostly in some frontier stage-coach or on 
horse-back, or on foot over mountains and 
valleys, or through deserts, or the snows of 
the rockies, or in the burning sands of some 
desert. 

It was on one such journey that the brother 
stopped at a little stage station a mile east of 
the Pima Agency. 

After resting a little he paid us a visit, which 
resulted in a friendly chat on Indian matters 
and a prayer-meeting Never shall I forget 
that visit ; it reminded me of a General visit- 
ing the soldier on picket, and encouraging 
him in the faithful discharge of his duty. 

Some time after, Dr. Jackson when in New 
York, urged the brethren of the M. E. Mis- 
sionary Society to establish a mission among 
the Pima and Papago Indians of Arizona. 
Finding that the M. E. Church was not pre- 
pared and unable to occupy this field, he con- 
cluded that the Presbyterian Church ought 
to do something for these 8,000 Indians. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 49 

In the winter of 1880-1881, Dr. Jackson 
again visited this field in company with Mrs. 
Jackson. The good sister stayed here while 
the brother explored the surrounding region. 

We were at that time trading for the Hon. 
C. T. Hayden of Tempe, Arizona, who paid 
us a good salary ; but we were only able to 
give our Sundays to the preaching of the gos- 
pel to the Indians. 

We requested Dr. Jackson to send us a 
good young missionary, one willing to devote 
his life to the work. 

On the other hatid, the brother having pre- 
viously informed himself as to our standing 
in the M. E. Church and as to our orthodoxy, 
felt persuaded that it was our duty to join 
his church and so become their missionary 
for these Indians. 

We felt a little loth to part company with 
very many M. E. Church brethren whom we 
loved and highly esteemed ; we also remem- 
bered that we owed our conversion under 
God to good Dr. Shaw, a Presbyterian, and 
believing it to be the Lord's will, we con- 
cluded to brave any criticism or odium which 
such change might produce. 



50 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

We found a warm welcome in the Presby- 
terian Church, which in reality had been the 
church of our first choice. 

We hope, and have good reason to believe, 
that if Dr. Jackson will pay us a third visit, 
he will find the Pima Presbyterian Church 
the strongest church numerically, at least, in 
Arizona. 

There have been and still are many great 
and good men at work in this great Rocky 
Mountain region, but we sincerely believe that 
Dr. Jackson has done more for the Whites, 
Mexicans, Mormons and Indians, than any 
other man. 




The Giant Cactus of Arizona. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Pima Indians, their Manners and Customs, 
BY Rev. Isaac T. Whittemore. 

Many years ago, tradition gives it 350, the 
Pimas, Papagoes, Qua-hadtks, Jofe-qua-atams 
(Rabbit-eaters) and other branches, all des- 
ignated by the common Indian name, A\v-a\v- 
tam, came here from the east, driving away 
the inhabitants, supposed to have been the 
Zunis' or Moquis', and took possession of 
the country. The Pimas then were very 
numerous and occupied all the country, in- 
cluding the present Sacaton reservation and 
the Salt river valley, where Phoenix, the capi- 
tal, temple and other places are now. For 
some reason, a part of the tribe, since called 
Towana-aw-aw-tem (Papagoes) settled on the 
desert of southwestern Arizona ; only the 
Pima's remained in the Gila valley. 

The Papagoes hunted the mountain sheep 
and deer, and lived where they could raise 
crops when the spring or summer rains were 
difficult for that purpose. 

Why they left is unknown, probably be- 
cause a branch of the Apaches who were 



52 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

war-like, lived just across the Gila, on the 
north. Only the Pimas remain in the Gila 
valley. A little over too years ago, nearly 
all the Pima Indians, numbering about 4,000, 
resided within a radius of about seven miles 
of what is now called Casa-Blanca, (white 
house), twenty five miles west of the Ruin of 
Casa-Grande, in seven villages, or eleven 
miles west of the agency. Here they raised 
cotton, corn, melons and pumpkins and a 
small round seed which they ground and 
boiled as mush. 

Their mill was a stone twenty inches long, 
one foot wide, hollowed out a little, and an 
upper stone, ten or twelve inches long, weigh- 
ing fifteen or twenty pounds. The squaws 
did all the grinding by rubbing the upper 
stone on the seed in the hollow of " the 
nether mill-stone." The cotton was raised 
by the Pimas, spun and woven into cloth of 
various widths, and also into rude blankets. 
This cloth, aside from what they wore, was 
their "stock in trade," with the Colorado 
Indians, 200 miles west, and afterwards with 
the Mexicans, on the south. It was usually 
spun and woven by certain men of the tribe. 
As they had small canals for iriig ation, their 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 53 

fields were small, averaging not more than an 
acre, or one and a half to the family. They 
were still under the shadow of the " stone 
age." They had neither horses nor cattle, 
nor any implements of iron. Their tools 
were simply stone axes, and a few articles of 
wood, dressed by those axes and the fire. 
From the Mexicans, afterwards, they traded 
their cloth for axes, adzes, and a small brush- 
hook, which they used instead of a spade. 
These were all made in the most primitive 
manner, and contained little, or no steel. 

They had no pails or vessels of wood, but 
were not slow to invent. They therefore took 
willows, which grow in abundance along the 
river, and a weed, and stripped the bark, then 
very adroitly split these with their teeth, and 
wove these so closely together as to hold 
water. This they accomplished by means of 
needles or thorns of the cactus, of which 
there are over one hundred varieties in this 
territory. 

They used these baskets while digging 
small ditches, the women filling them with 
earth and carrying them up the bank. The 
grain, or seed, was planted in rows ; a hole 
was made in the ground with a stick, and 



54 I'HE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

covered with the foot, just as did the Egyp- 
tians many thousand years ago. 

The principal article of food, was the bean 
of the mesquite, which still grows abundantly 
all over the desert. They grow in a pod, 
somewhat like the "carob," the husks, out of 
which the prodigal son tried so hard, but in 
vain, to get a little nourishment. The day 
that ushered in the gathering of these beans 
was a happy event. 

Large parties started out leaving the aged 
and the little ones at home, taking with them 
large jars made of clay, or gourds, filled with 
water,the women carrying them on their heads. 

These " Kihos " they fill with the beans, 
which they gather, storing it here and there, 
and covering with thorn-brush in such a way 
that the prairie-wolves or coyotes could not 
steal it until they could bring it home as 
needed. These beans were not ground but 
pounded^ in a mortar made from a piece of 
mesquite tree, which is very hard by burning 
a hole in it and then inserting it in the ground. 
The stone pestle was i6 or i8 inches long, and 
weighed often 20 pounds. With this the 
women crushed the beans very fine, then sep- 
arated the seeds, which are indigestible ; and 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 55 

from the remaining pulp, they made large 
cakes, containing saccharine matter that re- 
mained sweet a year. They boiled them and 
with the syrup, made a dumpling. Another 
article of food was the fruit of the " Suhuarro," 
or giant cactus. It grows plentifully, still, in 
patches on the desert and far up on the moun- 
tains, attaining a height of 20 to 30 or more 
feet The fruit grows on the top and is gath- 
ered dexterously by the Indians with poles — 
a small hook of wood fastened on the head, to 
bring it to the ground. Part of this fruit they 
ate when ripe, and the rest they dried in the 
sun, or boiled down to a jam, and stored away 
in small earthen jars hermetically sealed, a 
foot or two under ground — except a certain 
quantity, which, alas ! they mixed with water 
and allowed to ferment, and boiled until its 
intoxicating qualities were seen in a general 
intoxication. 

All contributed and brought it to the chief 
or medicine men, when an orgie on a large 
scale, was inaugurated. All dressed in their 
best, the women sitting or standing on the top 
of their huts, from ten to twenty huddled 
together for safety, and the feast is kept up 
until universal intoxication ensues ; and one 
or more are often killed. 



56 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Of such feasts they generally had several 
each year, except occasionally when the cac- 
tus fruit failed. 

Rabbits were hunted with bows and arrows. 
Caterpillars, which some years in the spring 
are plentiful, were also gathered in large 
quantities. They were thrown into boiling 
water, soon taken out, salted a little and eaten. 

Formerly, there were some deer and moun- 
tain sheep in this vicinity, but the latter are 
nearly extinct, and in hunting them there was 
danger of trespassing on the hunting-grounds 
of the war like Apaches. 

Fish were caaght in the Gila with the hand, 
then a stick was driven through their gills 
and bodies. The sticks were then set in the 
ground around a small fire, and thus nicely 
roasted, were eaten on the spot. 

Often, the Indians were very hungry, espe- 
cially in the spring, and they were then glad 
to get one meal a day. 

The huts of the Pimas were made by using 
four stout posts, 7 long, of mesquite, forked 
and set two feet in the ground. On these were 
laid two principal rafters, round and across 
these, eight or ten smaller. Over these, like 
an inverted basket, the tops fastened and 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 57 

bent to fit, were long poles, brushy top, the 
buts outside and stuck in the ground, and the 
whole overlaid with a layer of clay. Such a 
roof sheds water and is so strong that twenty 
persons could stand on it in safety, in a dry 
season. These huts were mostly circular out- 
side, and from eighteen to twenty feet in 
diameter, and capable of containing eight 
persons. No ventilation at top, but furnished 
by a doorway in the east usually, about two 
feet wide and two feet eight inches high. 
The air draws in toward the center, where 
the fire was made on the ground. The smoke 
arose and was drawn out by the heated cur- 
rent, at the top of the entrance. The huts 
were, as I have said, merely sleeping- places. 
They lived in them only in stormy weather, 
for they were but five feet high inside, so 
they could not stand erect. These huts lasted 
many years, but if a member of the family 
died, the hut was burned. 

Previous to 1878, all the Pimas lived in 
winter, or during cold weather, in what they 
called Keahim or villages of from one hun- 
dred to six hundred people ; and these huts 
were called Kih's (pronounced key.) They 
resembled an old-style bee -hive or bake-oven. 



58 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Some of them were much larger than those 
already described and elliptical in form and 
used as a council house. 

Mr. Cook says he has preached in the 
smaller ones. " How did you stand?'' " I 
sat,'' he replied, " and when the smoke was 
too dense, turned my head ! " 

Usually, however, he sat outside — except 
when in the summer, the mercury arose to 
120 degrees fahrenheit — with a shade of 
brush, with his Indian congregation sitting on 
the ground in a circle. 

They listened patiently as he preached in 
their native tongue, in which he speaks, thinks, 
and writes, more naturally now, than in his 
own native German or English. 

In the winter, in the center of each hut, a 
fire was built and kept burning all night, one 
member of the family occasionally stirring 
and renewing wood, as necessary. 

They slept on mats which they made, and 
their covering was a blanket, and so warm 
were the huts and the winter so mild, that 
nothing was needed to keep them comfortable. 
All the furniture consisted of mats, ollas, 
(earthen jars) and a few earthen dishes ; the 
former holding two or three pails of water 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 59 

and a few gourds. Many of the huts were 
kept so neatly as to astonish one. 

The Pimas had one principal chief with one 
or more sub chiefs, to each village. These 
were chosen usually for their bravery in war 
and influence at home and were their leaders 
in wars and settled disputes in villages and 
families. At present, they have but little 
authority. Some of the old warriors are badly 
scarred from encounters with the Apaches, 
and these are much respected by the young, 
who listen in the village council house to their 
winter evening tales of former exploits 

Antonio Azul, the present head chief, as 
well as his father before him, was a great 
warrior and both were always friends of the 
white man and progressive in their views. 

Many years ago, when some of the evil 
disposed urged war with the whites, these 
chiefs took a firm stand against such folly. 
The others knew but little of the strength, 
prowess and resources of the whites and 
Mexicans ; but concluded, however, that they 
had had enough to do with the Apaches, 
without embroiling themselves in wars with 
either Mexicans or whites ; thus, consider- 
ing " discretion the better part of valor." 



6o THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

They bury their dead in a sitting posture, 
six feet below ground, as do so many Indian 
tribes. 

Mr. Cook says, " Not very long ago, the 
cattle and horses, belonging to a deceased 
person, if a husband, were killed and eaten 
by the mourners and neighbors, except such 
as were given by him to the heirs in the fam- 
ily, and other possessions, including even 
wheat and other food were burned with the 
house. 

The bereaved relatives consequently had 
nothing left at times, on which to live, until 
next harvest, unless friends came to their relief. 

Mourning for a child and relatives of distant 
consanguinity usually lasted a month. If a 
child died early in the morning or late in the 
evening, the mourners went a little distance 
from the village and you could hear their 
plaintive cry. My child ! oh ! my child ! 

If a husband, or wife died, mourning lasted 
six months or a year. After this the name of 
the departed ones must never be mentioned, 
and everything relating to them, appear for- 
gotten. The women wore sack-cloth as did 
the Jews for the memor}^ of the departed." 

" The only thing " says the missionary, ''that 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 6 1 

I have found, showing the least conception of 
their belief in a future existence, was that the 
mother prepared food and scattered it to the 
winds, with some evident hope that the depart- 
ed might thereby find something to eat." 
He says farther and what seems strange and 
incongruous, " I once saw a party of Indians 
going to a funeral as joyful as if going to a 
dance. On inquiring where they were going, 
they replied to a funeral to eat beef." 

At the time of which we are writing, these 
natives wore only a breech-cloth around the 
loins, except the girls, who wore an apron. 
In winter, the men had a long shirt, similar 
to the Chinese blouse. Women over twelve 
years added a chemise or skirt tied around 
the waist. Unlike the Indians in the cold 
north, in the days when buffaloes roamed in 
vast herds and who clothed themselves in 
warm robes, these needed very little cover- 
ing in winter, and like all heathen, were 
indifferent to the exposure of their person. 

Their shoes were simply buckskin. They 
usually went barefoot, except when travelling. 
The men wore their hair longer than the 
women, dressing it with mud and gum made 
from the mesquite tree. They wore this dur- 



62 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

ing the night and washed it off in the morn- 
ing. The women wore their hair cut short 
over their eyebrows in a "bang." The hair 
dressing just named, gave the hair a black 
and glossy appearance, and it was also a good 
dye. 

If one is sick, he sends for the medicine 
man, often to a distant village. He comes 
with great pomp, long eagle feathers, and rat- 
tle in hand, of which he makes good use. If 
he is on horseback, which is usually the case, 
his horse is taken as he dismounts, and as 
soon as possible his appetite is appeased, and 
he goes at his work with the patient. A 
paper of the indispensable tobacco is fur- 
nished. He has no pills nor powders, no cal- 
omel or morphine, not even a saddlebag. 
He spends the night smoking his cigarettes 
blowing the whiffs in the face of his patient, 
sings weird songs, rattling and fanning to 
blow away the devils that caused the sickness. 

For certain pains, the patient was scarified 
with broken glass or sharp stones. An 
instance of this kind is as follows : A woman 
had sprained her ankle. She then washed it, 
sat down, broke several pieces from a glass 
bottle and cut the flesh till the blood ran in 
many places and then w^nt about her business. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 6^ 

Another case was that of a girl, who was 
taken sick while attending a school. She was 
taken to Maricopa to a doctor and died the 
next day. It was ascertained afterwards that 
these Maricopa doctors, (sorcerers) when it 
was the wish of the relatives, or when recovery- 
was doubtful, took a club and killed the 
patient. 

Rabbit-hunting was formerly one of their 
modes of killing the witch that caused the 
sickness which was supposed to reside in a 
certain rabbit. 

On learning that Missionary Cook taught 
differently and damaged their reputation for 
destroying the witches, they retaliated by 
arranging to have the hunt many times on 
Sunday, and thus draw largely from his con- 
gregation. Ever since the missionary began 
work here, these medicine men have been an 
annoyance and hindrance to his work, but 
they have invariably turned out badly. 

There is but little doubt that if all the 
facts could be known, many of the murders 
of whites by the Apaches, and other tribes 
and wars and depredations in this territor)-, 
could be traced to the instigation of these 
medicine men. They are one of the most 



64 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

dangerous elements with which government, 
especially the Indian department, has to con- 
tend. They are ambitious, artful, and unscru- 
pulous, and in this vicinity have done more to 
destroy the efforts of Indian agents to im- 
prove the condition of the Indian, both in 
school-work and their moral elevation, than 
all other undermining and checking influences 
combined. Nearly all are low, vulgar, licen- 
tious, and dishonest, and spare no pains to 
keep the tribe from every good and honorable 
work. The Indians crave excitement and 
amusement. Since the hunt and chase are 
things of the past, a substitute of some kind 
is required. 

One of the amusements of the women, was 
that of tossing balls. They had two small 
ones covered with buckskin, and tied about 
six inches apart. Young women and married 
from thirty to seventy-five in a group, assem- 
bled dressed as for a ball, their hair carefully 
manipulated so as to be black and glossy. 
Each had a stick of willow, six feet long. 
With these they dexterously tossed the balls 
high in the air, running after them until one 
party was so weary that they gave up the 
game from mere exhaustion. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 65 

In order to make the excitement a success, 
they had certain active women, keen of wit, 
and quick of action, practice weeks in advance. 
This muscular play, in addition to other work, 
developed strong muscular action and healthy 
bodies, gave the women a better constitution 
than the men ; the latter, sometimes dying 
from debility, and consumption. 

The men were addicted to gambling. 
From two to eight sat on the ground from 
half a day to a whole day at the game. They 
had a flat stone about four inches in diameter 
and four flat pieces of wood, eight inches long 
and one wide. With this stone in one hand 
and four sticks held together, each of which 
had certain marks on two surfaces, no two 
alike, they hit the sticks with the stone, knock- 
ing high in air, and as they fell into the cen- 
tre of the circle around which they sat, the 
marks were counted, and scored and credit 
given to the winning side of each game. The 
party that lost gave so many little sticks to 
the winning side. The stakes were valuable, 
worth from one dollar to fifty ; sometimes a 
horse or pony, a steer or cow. 

Foot races were of common occurrence. 
Sometimes between two villages, or a num- 



66 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

ber. The grounds were prepared, every 
obstruction removed for a space i,ooo yards 
long, and a rod in width. The goal was 
distinctly marked at each end. The racers 
having practiced long, met at the ground, 
denuded, except a cloth around the loins. 
Wives or sweethearts, fathers and mothers 
assembled in crowds to witness the race, on 
both sides of the track. One party in a 
village is marked by a blue, another from a 
near village by a red ribbon. The racer has 
his insignia to denote to which party he 
belongs. The day arrives. Part of the blues 
are on one side of the track, part on the 
other, and so of the reds. The crowd on 
both sides is great. Horses, cows, cattle, as 
prizes, are on the ground near by. Betting 
runs high hours before the race. When all 
are ready, two men, a red and a blue, with 
toe on the mark, stand ready for the signal 
to start. Cool, yet determined, stand the con- 
testants. As the word is given, two, a red 
and a blue, dash forward. The instant one 
touches the mark at the opposite end, another 
of his party starts back. If the one who 
started with him is behind, the man of his party 
must wait till he touches the line. If his 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 6^ 

party continues to lag and cannot gain what 
is lost, the other side eventually wins. But 
this may continue for hours before the victory 
is won. 

During all the time the villagers on both 
sides of the track were divided, so that half 
the blues were on one side and half on the 
other, and vice versa of the reds, the parties 
shouting and halloing, men on horseback 
and women as much excited as the men. 
When the die is cast the winners take their 
prizes and leave for home. Sometimes a race 
was run between two persons, champions, 
from three to five miles, and the amount 
staked reached $500 worth of livestock and 
dry goods. In these races, men and women 
who had large stakes, as their favorite racer 
lagged, ran after him, hooting and prodding 
with a sharp stick, so intense wiis the excite- 
ment. 

There was one advantage which these 
Indians had over horse racers of this day. 
Although the excitement was great and 
betting strong, and the gambling dissipating 
to morals, there was so far as we know, no 
drinking. 



68 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

The word Aw-op, meaning Apache, was 
often used by the Pima mother, to still the 
crying of her little one. 

The old warriors here, who can show the 
scars of many a wound received in fights, will 
soon be no more. 

Many years ago there was but little for 
which to fight, except the hunting grounds 
and a few slaves. But since the Pimas have 
become raisers of horses and cattle, war with 
these Apaches is no longer an object. The 
Apaches had the advantage over the Pimas 
having a very large country to roam over, as 
some of our military officers well know. 

They had many hiding places and natural 
fortifications, where a handful of Apaches 
could easily defy such fighters as Gen. Crook 
and his brave officers and soldiers. 

Some of our frontiersmen have regarded 
the Apaches as cowards, perhaps because 
they would not fight when the odds were 
against them. The Pimas, however, did not 
so estimate them, nor did the Apaches con- 
sider the Pimas cowards. 

To mention all the battles and hand to 
hand fights of these tribes within the past 
sixty years, would fill volumes. Be content 
with a few. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 69 

Once the Pimas, being hungry, went to the 
San Pedro to hunt deer. They took their 
wives with them and a few^ ponies. They 
left the women in camp in the morning and 
on their return in the evening, all had been 
taken captive by the Apaches. 

At another time, a number of ^Maricopa 
Indians, on their way to Tucson, were sur- 
prised by a party of Apaches, two miles south 
of the Sacaton Agency and every one was 
killed. The little hill where the battle was 
fought, is still called by the Indians, Aw-aw 
pap-ha-ko-ita or Maricopa slaughter. 

About seven miles from the agency, near 
the Temple road, they had a great battle, 
about thirty years ago, where many on both 
sides were killed. ''Old Ursutch," who died 
seven years since, was surprised by a 
band of Apaches, nearly six miles from 
home. He kept them at bay until his wife 
and children were safe, meantime receiving 
three severe wounds. Usually, the Apaches 
provoked the wars, either by robbery, or 
murdering the Pimas, Whereupon councils 
were held by the Pimas and a time fixed for 
a campaign. All the war-chiefs and warriors 
then got ready, with feathers in their hair, 



yo THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

faces and hair painted, war clubs and shields 
or bows and arrows and sometimes lances, 
and some food. They then met in a village 
and there danced as many evenings as they 
expected to be absent. 

While the young sang and danced, the war- 
prophets sat near and prophesied in regard to 
what their success should be, like the *' Oracle 
of Delphi." 

Having learned that it was not the custom 
of the Apaches to fight at night, a new system 
of tactics was inaugurated by the Pimas. 
Taking Apache captives for guides they man- 
aged to reach their villages at night, stealthily 
approached them and beat them with clubs, 
and usually killed them before they had time 
to rub their eyes open. Such raids were some- 
times very disastrous, at other times success- 
ful, as they brought home captives, and if no 
Pimas had been killed they had a glorious 
dance, in which nearly the whole tribe joined. 
The dancing being mostly side-jumps by sev- 
eral thousand who joined hands, made the 
earth tremble for quite a distance. After the 
festivities were over, most of the captives were 
taken to the Papagoes, or to Sonora in Mexico? 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 7 1 

and there sold as slaves, at a price ranging 
from sixty to one hundred dollars, in goods 
and livestock. Then those who had killed 
an enemy, had to remain outside the camp for 
a month, their food being brought to them. 
At the end of a month or moon, the process 
of cleansing was performed, and the braves 
were then allowed to mingle again with the 
people. 

In this connection we may mention the war- 
drill. From the age of two years, up to old 
age, the males carried bows, and arrows. 
Some of the experts occasionally gave a drill 
in the practice of club and shield. Much 
depended on fleetness of foot. Some young 
women could travel from forty to fifty miles 
in sixteen hours, and there were warriors who 
ran twenty miles, keeping a horse on a canter, 
following them. 

Some imitated the Apaches in their system 
of telegraphing from the top of steep hills or 
mountains, by smoke in the day or fire at 
night ; although in this the Pimas could not 
compete with their neighbors, whose system 
was so perfect for communicating great dis- 
tances, even from sixty to one hundred miles, 
which is well known to our army officers who 



72 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

fought them. The Pimas, however, were 
fully their equal in " trailing." He could 
even distinguish the prints of feet in the 
sand, of those of his village, and friends, so 
as to tell you who had passed before him, 
and the print of his horse's hoofs from those 
of any other horse. 

Sham battles were also frequently given, 
some of the Pimas representing the Apaches 
so well, that if a white man had passed he 
would undoubtedly have been deceived by 
them. After the battle had waged some 
time, as usual in such cases, the Pimas came 
off conquerors without losing a man. The 
opposition, however, did not lose esteem on 
that account. 

In 1872, Major Gen. O. O. Howard was 
sent to this territory by President Grant, with 
a view to establishing peace between the 
Indians and the whites. General Howard 
went with only one of his aids, to see Cochise, 
chief of the Chirichua Apaches, at his head- 
quarters. This was an act of daring which 
few would perform. Cochise consented to 
live at peace in Arizona, but not in Mexico, 
where as he claimed his father had been 
foully murdered, after making a treaty, and 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION, 73 

after corrting out of one of their churches. 
It is possible that this may have been done 
by some crank, for it seems hardly credible 
that the priests or authorities would have 
committed an act which afterward, no doubt, 
cost the lives of thousands. 

After this Gen. Howard visited the Pimas, 
inspected the school then conducted by Mis- 
sionary Cook, expressing his approbation at 
finding it not only on the pay list, but a school 
in reality. 

The general then requested the Pimas to 
send a large delegation to make peace with 
the Apaches, at Camp Grant. 

Gen. Crook and Gov. Safford were there, 
and Tucson was well represented. There 
was much talk, which lasted two days. Eski- 
mensin was the Apache orator and chief 
speaker for that tribe. 

An Apache, seeing Louis, the Pima inter- 
preter, came to meet him in high glee. Taking 
his hand, he said : "You are the Pima who 
killed me years ago." Louis then recognized 
him as the man to whom he had dealt a heavy 
blow with a war-club, and then left him for 
dead on the battle-field. Peace-making pro- 
gressed and all were pleased, except in one 



74 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Item of the contracts. The Apaches wanted 
the captives restored who had been taken at 
the Camp Grant massacre, {inde " Century of 
Dishonor," by H. H., pp. 324-335). They 
were nearly all held by Mexicans, who objected 
pleading that they could not allow them to 
return to heathenism, that they had learned 
to love them and their hearts would almost 
break at the thought of it. Eskimensin lis- 
tened patiently, then evidently much moved, 
spoke nearly as follows : " Your hearts must 
have become very tender all at once. Not 
long ago, when the men were away hunting, 
you came here and killed defenceless old men, 
women and children. You took a number of 
our children to Tucson to sell into slavery of 
and when some of the little ones cried for 
their homes and murdered mothers, you put 
water on their heads," (baptized them) " and 
then you took them by the legs and knocked 
their heads against the rocks and killed them 
and left them for the coyotes to eat. How 
does it happen that your hearts have got so 
tender all at once ? " The massacre occurred 
but little over a year previous and was fresh in 
the minds of many present, among whom, in 
this council, was our missionary, who heard 
ail the discussions. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION, 75 

Gen. Howard left the settlement of the 
question in regard to retaining or returning 
the captives, to President Grant, who issued 
an order subsequently for the return of the 
captives. 

Because Gen. Howard did not assume 
authority and return the captives, some were 
offended, and a ruse was attempted but 
failed. It was as follows : Mannel, a tame 
Apache, who was also an interpreter, came to 
the Pimas, requesting them to take care of 
his horse and rifle for an hour, until he could 
bid good-bye to some of his relations. To 
this the Pimas assented. After two hours, 
word came that Mannel could not be found, 
and fears were entertained that there had 
been foul play, and he had been put out of 
the way by the Apaches. This story was the 
all-absorbing theme of conversation for some 
time, and was published in the newspapers. 

Having seen carriages leave for Tucson, 
soon after Mannel left, the Pimas came to the 
conclusion that the Mexicans had captured 
him instead of the Apaches. They sent to 
Tucson, and lo ! after enjoying a nice car- 
riage ride, here was Mannel safe and sound. 

Since this " treaty," there have been no^ 
wars between the Pimas and Apaches. 



76 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Very few of the Pimas were originally poly- 
gamists. There are many examples that show 
honorable fidelity of husband and wife to each 
other for life. This, however, was not the 
case with the majority. 

Some time after the treaty mentioned in the 
last chapter, an Apache squaw, a captive, who 
had been married to a Pima Indian and was 
much loved by her Pima sisters, was claimed 
by her brother, as it was understood by the 
treaty that the Pimas were to deliver up the 
Apache captives to their tribe. In the absence 
of the government superintendent, the mis- 
sionary, acting as agent, decided the case. He 
asked the Apache woman how she liked her 
husband and what treatment she had received 
from him ? She expressed herself as perfectly 
satisfied, and desired to live with him always 
The husband fully reciprocated. Ke was in- 
formed that they must not be separated, as 
they were truly husband and wife. "But," 
added the missionary, " there is no law against 
a Pima husband making a present of a good 
pony to his brother-in-law, or his wife visiting 
her family as often as she may choose. At 
this suggestion, all were well pleased, and the 
Apache brother-in-law rode home on his pony, 
perhaps the first he had ever owned. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 77 

Until the last one hundred years, the Pimas 
knew little or nothing of the Spaniards. At 
one time a number of the Indians were invited 
to visit Tucson, (pronounced Took-sone^ or 
Too-sone)^ meaning Blackfoot hills. They 
here saw Mexicans, soldiers, cannon and fire- 
arms. The Indians were treated to beef for 
the first time, which they greatly enjoyed. 

Here they met the Catholic priests, called 
by the Mexicans, padre, or father. They 
taught them of the advent of the Saviour into 
the world and invited them to join the mis- 
sion. The subject was new to them and they 
could not take it in readily. They wanted to 
discuss the matter at home with their chief 
and others, so they declined after the coun- 
cil was over. Some time after this, Chief 
Haran-n-mawk (Raven hair) of the Papagoes, 
came with many of his people from Tucson, 
to the Pimas on the Gila, for refuge. They 
stated that the Mexicans wanted him and his 
people, without sufficient supplies, towage an 
unceasing warfare on the Apaches. Not 
long after, however, a body of Mexicans with 
cavalry and artillery came in pursuit, where- 
upon the Papagoes and Pimas, after hiding 
their scanty supply of food, fled to the fast- 



yS THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

nesses of the mountains west of this place, 
terror-stricken at the booming of cannon and 
of fire-arms. Here, like " Leonidas," they 
could defend themselves in the canons for 
months, against the foe in front. They sub- 
sisted on the mescal, in part, which grows on 
the top of a mountain range, where the enemy 
could not reach them. But after waiting for 
months, the Mexicans, their enemies, still 
occupying their villages, ready and thirsting 
for a fight, a sterner foe in camp threatened 
them. The mescal gave out. The men were 
afraid of the cannon and fire-arms, and their 
children cried for food. The squaws pro- 
posed to go and fight — driven as they were 
by hunger and the fruitless wails of the child- 
ren — if the husbands would not go. In this 
extremity, the lion-hearted Ravenhair and 
his two sons, went and surrendered. The 
Mexicans took them and hanged them on a 
tree. They then returned to Tucson. 

It is supposed that many of those Papagoes 
(one village) have resided near the Pimas, 
until the last two years, and a few still remain. 
Some time after the above event, several 
priests with a band of soldiers, came to 
establish a mission near Casa-BIanca, but the 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 79 

Pimas forbade them. It was about this time 
that the Pimas, with the help of the Papagoes, 
managed to get a few ponies. 

It is about sixty or sixty-five years since 
the first cattle were brought to the Pimas. 
Many of the old Pimas remember the event 
distinctly. Many of the Indians were at first 
frightened at their horns and shaking of the 
heads and bellowing of the cattle. But the 
old Quacherty, a branch of the Pimas, finally 
quieted their fears, assuring them that they 
were harmless and very valuable for work and 
beef. Henceforth, cattle were driven from 
Sonora, Mexico, bought in trade and fre- 
quently stolen by Mexicans, Yaqui Indians 
and Papagoes, and sold to the Pimas at 
reduced rates. 

The Quatcharty Indian who brought the 
first cattle, married a Pima woman. Some of 
his sons were killed in the recent war with 
the Apaches, and one died about four years 
ago. One of his daughters is a most faithful 
christian. His son, named Joseph Roberts, 
the only elder in the Pima Presbyterian 
Church here, and a number of his children 
and grandchildren are members also ; one of 
whom, a pupil in the Indian training school 



8o THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

at Tucson, plays the organ well. Our Elder, 
who was also a great warrior, does good ser- 
vice now in the army of the Lord. 

Some of these Pimas responded to the call 
of Gen. Miles, as spies, and aided him in 
capturing " Geronimo " and his band, now 
under guard at Mount Vernon, Alabama. 
They were always glad to aid the U. S. 
government in every way possible. Besides 
the Pimas there are other tribes of Indians 
living in the western part of Arizona. 

The_Maricopas, who many years ago took 
refuge among the Pimas and still reside here, 
speak the Yuma language. Twenty years 
ago they numbered four hundred and fifty 
souls. They are now reduced to but half 
as many. In some respects they resemble 
the Yumas. The Pimas about the same time 
numbered four thousand and have not 
diminished since. The Papagoes, Quatchar- 
ties, and others, who speak the Pima lan- 
guage, probably amount to the same number, 
exclusive of those who reside outside perma- 
nently in Sonora, Mexico. Most of the Papa- 
goes, except a few who reside near San 
Xavier, live in villages, where they cultivate 
the soil when the rains are sufficient to raise 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 8 1 

a crop, but are nomadic at other times. They 
live on deserts, where as soon as the whites oc- 
cupy all the grazing lands adjacent, it will be 
impossible for them to subsist much longer. 
They vvill be driven to the wall and starve to 
death This is inevitable unless provision is 
made for them. Should not our government 
set apart a small portion of the Pan Handle 
in the Indian Territory for them and other 
Indians similarly situated, before they become 
extinct, and provide them a home and schools, 
and should not the churches provide them a 
missionary ? 

The Quatcharties have built long dams 
across the valleys above their fields, where 
they store much water in the rainy seasons, and 
irrigate at pleasure. 

Frequently in the summer many of the 
Papagoes come to the reservation here and 
help the Pimas at wheat harvest on shares, 
and earn sufficient to keep the wolf from the 
door the rest of the year. Others near the 
Sonora line spend much of their time in 
Mexico for the same purpose. Some also go 
to the San Pedro valley. They travel with 
burros, small mules and on ponies, carrying 
household goods, cooking utensils especially, 



.62 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

camping wherever night overtakes them. 
I'hey build a small rude hut on short notice, 
generally in a day, for a short stay. Some 
speak a little mongrel Spanish, and show a 
mixture of Mexican and Spanish blood. 

They are fairly clean. They raise more 
asses and mules than the Pimas, and formerly 
more cattle and horses. Some of them, before 
the railroad was built, stole stock from the 
Pimas and sold it in Mexico, and the Pimas 
played at the same game. 

U. S. agent, Capt. Grossman, tried to 
induce them to settle on the Gila in 1870 or 
187 1, but their free and roving nature rebelled. 
They preferred the deserts and little springs 
in the mountains. A few of them make good 
laborers, but the majority decline to work. 
When hunger forces them out of ruts and 
huts during the winter or early spring, they 
come by hundreds, in a long caravan to the 
Pimas whom they know to be more provident. 

A small delegation is sent in advance to 
advertise the Pimas that they are very hungry, 
and will soon appear to give them a great 
dance in exchange for something to eat. 
Looking south some day, you may see a great 
dust for miles along the road. As the cara- 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 8;^ 

van approaches, you behold Indians, squaws, 
kids and papooses, some on ponies, others on 
mules or asses, two or three often on one / 
animal, with extra beasts to carry grain back. 
They give the Pimas two or three nights' 
dancing, in return for which each Pima family 
is expected to give fifty or one hundred 
pounds of wheat — so great is their own 
estimate of the exhibition, and the generosity 
of the Pimas. 'I'his wheat is collected by the 
Papagoes in the various villages, as they 
tarried, and by them transported to their 
homes. So hungry were some of these little 
Papago children, as to be delighted at find- 
ing a crust of coarse bread just cast away, 
which the average white child would have 
spurned. 

Previous to the Independence of Mexico, 
/. e. in 1822-25, many of the Papagoes who 
were under the influence of the Padres, wore 
their hair short while among the Pimas. The 
Quatcharties, and others have always worn 
theirs long, thus avoiding the necessity of 
any other covering for the head. A few of 
them settled among the Pimas, and taught 
them the art of raising whear.. At this date, 
perhaps owing to their desert homes, and 



84 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Other causes, they are behind the Pimas in 
wealth and civilization. With the exception 
of those living in villages, they oppose schools. 

The Apaches in Arizona and New Mexico, 
differ from the other tribes in many respects. 
Their principal mode of eking out a living 
was heretofore by the chase and gathering 
the mescal and by robbery. The mescal is a 
plant with an enormous root, quite nourishing, 
corresponding to the bread-fruit in foreign 
countries. 

One thing may be conceded to them — they 
were the most virtuous of Indians, (if any are 
chaste), although adultery was punished with 
them by killing the man and cutting off the 
nose of the woman. To some extent, how- 
ever, they have practiced polygamy. 

The natural resources of their country 
were such, that they could have kept one 
hundred thousand head of cattle, with little 
or no work or oversight, had they been so 
inclined, and many of the villages could have 
produced the best of fruits and grain, had 
their people been industrious, like the whites, 
if they had been taught ; yet they knew so 
little of the way of cultivating the soil, that 
at times they were so hungry as to capture a 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 85 

Coyote in a trap, cook, and eat it — a thing 
that even an Indian rarely does. 

The Camp — Apache Indians are probably 
the most susceptible to Christianizing influ- 
ences of any of the tribes in this territory. 
Long ago, they asked for a missionary who 
would help them and teach them how to live, 
both for this world and the next. So far the 
churches have not responded. There is a 
probability, however, that the German Luth- 
erans will soon establish a mission among 
them. There is a great need of suitable 
young men and women, to be educated as 
teachers and missionaries, and even store- 
keepers and farmers, to go and live among 
such tribes as these, all over the country 
where there are Indians. But they should go 
married, as husband and wife. It is ques- 
tionable whether two women, however conse- 
crated, can succeed. A very important aim 
in all our Indian mission schools, should be 
first to evangelize the Indians of both sexes, 
then to fit them to return and make homes 
and aid the above missionaries by supple- 
menting their efforts. 

The statistics of the Indian tribes in this 
territory as given by the commissioner of 



86 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Indian affairs, Gen. T. J. Morgan, Vol. 2, 
1891, is as follows : 

Colorado-rini agency, 2,891 

Navajoe agency, 17,852 

Pima agency,. 9.695 

San Carlos agency, 4,819 

There are all told under government pro- 
tection, 38,481. 

This brings us to the present, and shows 
what has been done for the Indians on this 
Pima reservation during the past two decades. 

Before the advent of the S. P. R. R., the 
Pimas were doubtless the best known tribe in 
Arizona. The overland mail road and most 
of the traffic of the territory at that time 
passed through this reservation. No danger 
here from Apaches or Mexicans, who for a 
time made it their business to kill and plunder 
between Tucson and Yuma. 

It is true, a few of the " baser sort," often 
drove the mules or horses of the freight teams 
away, when grazing a little distance, in order 
to obtain a reward for hunting them. Other- 
wise, but few depredations were committed. 
Twenty- five years ago, there were six trad- 
ing establishments on this reservation, where 
you could purchase calico or muslin at twenty 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 87 

five cents per yard, a cake of soap at the 
same price, sugar at fifty cents a pound and 
canned goods at from seventy-five cents to a 
dollar per can. The goods were brought 
over-land from San Diego, Cal. Wheat 
brought prices in fair proportion, one dollar 
and fifty to two dollars per hundred pounds. 
With the Indians, wheat was their " stock in 
trade." So the early traders did all they could 
to encourage them in agricultural pursuits. 
The plow was of the most primitive make. 
It was patterned after those made in Egypt, 
3,000 or 4,000 years ago, or the one used by 
Elisha, vide i Kings, 19:19. It consisted of 
a beam of mesquite wood, a hook with a 
handle and a pole fastened to it. The share 
was simply a piece of mesquite, three inches 
square and two feet long, sharpened at the 
lower end and fastened ingeniously at the 
upper end at an angle of fifty degrees, into 
the beam. The pole was fastened to the 
plow at one end, and to the ox-yoke at the 
other. The yoke, instead of resting on the 
neck, was fastened in a curious manner to the 
horns of the oxen. This plow answered the 
purpose of plow and harrow. It required 
from four to six yoke of oxen to do the work 



88 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

(which was but little more than scratching 
the ground) for a whole village, and was 
owned by two or three families. 

During the past ten years this tribe has pro- 
duced from sixty to seventy thousand bushels 
of wheat a year, the government having lately 
furnished them axes, spades and modern 
plows, which they highly prize. 

The first Indian day school under govern- 
ment was opened among the Pimas by Mr. 
Cook in 1 87 1 . This he conducted successfully 
for seven years and for two years more he was 
employed as trader. During this time, besides 
serving the government and the Indians with 
fidelty, he was preparing for a still greater 
work as a missionary exclusively. 

Not long after this a school was opened at 
San Xavier, Gov. McCormick the delegate 
to congress, and his wife, visited the school 
and secured government aid for suitable build- 
ings. The Ladies' Union Mission School As- 
sociation in New York, at this time having 
had their attention called to the needs of these 
Indians by army officers, employed and sent 
a lady teacher. They also very kindly sent 
(and have several times since repeated the 
act) a good Mason and Hamlin organ and 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 89 

Other supplies for the school, all of which were 
fully appreciated, as they added very efficiently 
to the work. After the day school had existed 
eight years' it was changed to a boarding 
school. This school resembles most of the 
other Indian boarding schools. There has 
been a gradual growth and improvement, 
becoming more apparent during the last few 
years. 

The girls receive good training in all lines 
of housekeeping and the boys learn such trades 
and modes of farming as will fit them for a 
useful life, as citizens. They are frequently 
drilled in military tactics, in two companies, 
before school. This is done by native ser- 
geants in a manner that would surprise a 
West Point cadet. They perform with a celer- 
ity of action and unanimity of motion that 
would do honor to a company of national 
guards of Arizona. It is amusing to see the 
children imitate their drill-master and their 
delight in the exercise. They do as well — 
possibly better — under an Indian, than a 
white man. In the day school they memorize 
the ten commandments and other portions of 
scripture with remarkable facility — especially 
considering the fact that they are just begin- 
ning to learn the English language. 



90 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

This school, started twenty years ago with 
hungry and almost naked Indians, has grown 
and multiplied until at present there are about 
five hundred pupils in the various schools in 
this territory and in Albuquerque, New Mex- 
ico. And it would require no very great 
effort to place all the children under school 
training. One of the best schools in the 
country, for educating the Pimas and Papa- 
goes, is the Indian training and industrial 
school at Tucson. It was first opened in Jan- 
uary, 1888, and now has one hundred and 
fifty or more pupils. Rev. Howard Billman 
is the efficient superintendent and is seconded 
in his efforts by his estimable wife, and a corps 
of faithful, earnest co-workers. 

Not all Indian agents are good or wise men : 
would that they were ! The injury that some 
of them have done, it is difficult to estimate 
and can never be repaired. Those who recom- 
mend and those who have the power of 
appointment, should be slow in their selection, 
unless assured of their fitness for the position. 
A mistake may not be corrected, until evil 
has been wrought and then it is too late. Here, 
however, we have had some very good men in 
position. Mr. C. W. Grouse, the present 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 9 1 

incumbent, has worked hard and done well in 
bettering the condition of the Pimasand Papa- 
goes. Besides erecting several large build 
ings for school purposes and for the general 
benefit of the Indians, he has erected a flour- 
ing mill, capable of producing twenty-five 
barrels a day of (24 hours), that will save its 
cost in one year. He has utilized Indian labor 
to its utmost ability, thus saving expense and 
teaching them how to work at the same time ; 
and they are not slow to learn. 

He has built an irrigating canal over six 
miles in length, in which he was assisted by 
Mr. Cook, who has done a similar work for 
the Indians several times in past years. In 
the construction of these buildings and other 
improvements, Indians were principally em- 
ployed. This has given them a fair living 
and the training they needed, so that at pres- 
ent they require no assistance in constructing 
the walls of an adobe building, painting or 
plastering. The miller, who is engineer also, 
has trained his assistants (Indians) so that 
he needs no other help in running his engine. 

Much has been said and written in regard 
to the best way of elevating the Indian. 
Many who are in other respects wise, yet 



92 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

lacking- in knowledge of Indian character 
from not having studied it on the ground, 
declare that you can do nothing with the 
adult Indians. Educate the young, say they, 
separate them for years from all tribal in- 
fluences and you may do a little for them, but 
you cannot do anything for their parents. 

Here is a direct and palpable refutation 
of this sentiment. These friends of the 
Indians forget, or ignore what the Great 
Teacher commanded over t,8oo years ago : 
" Go preach my gospel to every creature." 
With the same means that have produced 
these results here, why may not the same be 
expected elsewhere? To educate the intel- 
lect only, and leave the heart untouched, is 
to do but little for the Indian. 

The Presbyterian Church has had one 
missionary here laboring under a commission 
of her Board of Home Missions, for less than 
twelve years. During this time he has 
received over eighty members into the church, 
who before knew but little or nothing of 
evangelical Christianity. We have two church 
edifices twelve miles apart on this reservation, 
the one at Blackwater on the east seating one 
hundred and fifty, this one three hundred, 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 93 

and both of these are full every Sabbath and 
frequently crowded. 

It is expected that a third chapel will be 
erected this year, thirty miles west of Sacaton, 
and that two native helpers will be commis- 
sioned to assist the missionary in his large 
and expanding field. 

Many come regularly to church a distance 
of from two to twenty miles, and not a few 
twenty or thirty miles. In summer, when 
churches in town are closed from the intense 
heat, these overflow with a multitude who are 
attracted, not by the eloquence of the 
preacher or by the exquisite rendering of 
chants by a well trained choir, or soul-stirring 
peals of the organ, but from pure love to 
God and delight in the service of preaching, 
prayer and praise. This influence on a people 
just emerging from heathenism and breaking 
up old superstitions and vices, and instead of 
them, leading an industrious and virtuous life, 
must far exceed that of churches in town on a 
civilized people. 

The Indian mind and heart is virgin soil, 
never working but when properly cultivated ; 
though slow in development and requiring 
great patience, yet when thoroughly wrought 



94 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

upon by the Holy Spirit, yields more ample 
returns and sometimes more rapid, than a 
gospel-hardened soil. 

The Indian belongs to the great human 
family. He is below his white brother in 
mind, morals and heart culture, /. e., the 
representative of the cultured man, but cer- 
tainly not below his ancestors in the dark 
ages, before the dawn of Christianity. 

Formerly news of importance was given 
from mouth to mouth, or by the captain of a 
village, morning and evening. He stood on 
the roof of his house, and proclaimed in a 
voice so loud that the captain in the next 
village heard and repeated, until all the vil- 
lages, one after another, had heard the latest 
war, or other news. Now, the young Pima 
reads his newspaper or letters from friends in 
distant schools, and replies with as much inter 
est, as his white neighbor. It is said that 
" Kid," the notorious Apache renegade, for 
whom parties are now in pursuit, can read, 
write and even operate the telegraph. 

During the past ten years the more civilized 
and christianized Pimas have built about one 
hundred and twenty adobe houses, most of 
them superior to the average Mexican house. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 95 

Not contented with this, and finding that in a 
wet season, havinga flat roof of brush, and mud 
they leak badly — imitating their pale-faced 
brother — they have begun to put on a shin- 
gled roof, of one-third pitch, and there are 
three such within sight. They have cleared 
new land, and if sufficient water were pro- 
vided at all seasons of the year, nothing could 
hinder their advancement in wealth and pros- 
perity. At present there is an average of one 
pony to every man, woman and child of the 
tribe, and many have wagons, while some 
enjoy the luxury of a carriage. Some of 
them have herds of cattle ranging from ten 
to three hundred. Most of the field work is 
now done by ponies. They have purchased 
within the past five years, about forty sewing 
machines of which they are justly proud. A 
lame Indian heretofore very poor, has a hand 
machine, with which he earns good wages, as 
a tailor, and now comes nine miles to church 
in his carriage. Formerly, they were often 
hungry, but now all who work have enough 
to eat. The clothing of men and women is 
respectable and many a young girl, especially 
in summer, during vacation, comes to church 
as stylish as her white sister. It speaks well 



g6 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

for their school-training, when it was plainly 
visible last summer that those girls who had 
been at the Indian Training School at Tucson, 
after being at home two months, on their 
return, were if possible more neat and tidy 
in their white dresses than when they came. 
The Pimas have always been self-sustaining, 
receiving only a few wagons and agricultural 
implements from the government, to encour- 
age them to help themselves, when greatly 
needed. 

Many of these Indians now appreciate the 
value of an education. Both our govern- 
ment and army officers have been the true 
friends of these Indians. Unscrupulous 
agents, and inspectors we have had, but they 
have been " exceptions, not the rule." 



CHAPTER V. 

Some Account of the First Organization of the 
Ladies' Union Mission School Association 
AND ITS Connection with the Mission to the 

PiMAS. 

The Ladies' Association formed in New 
York city in the month of March, 1868, to 
which reference has been made in the intro- 
duction to this narrative, after two years' 
active service in the territories formerly 
known as Spanish America, entered upon a 
new and wider field of labor. The first society 
which was a union of several christian denom- 
inations, on the reunion of the two branches 
of the Presbyterian Church in 1870, became 
auxiliary to the Boards of Home and Foreign 
Missions of the Presbyterian Church ; con- 
sequently the " Albany Branch," which was 
union in its character was re-organized as an 
independent society, not auxiliary to any 
church board, but at liberty to aid in sustain- 
ing mission schools both among the Indians 
of Arizona and in the destitute portions of 
onr western territory. 

The mission to the Pima Indians having 
been urged upon the attention of the Albany 



98 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

society, the new organization entered heartily 
upon this christian work and they were 
greatly encouraged by the information re- 
ceived from Gen. Townsend of the U. S. army 
who addressed to them the following letter : 

I am well persuaded that a plan of the nature pro- 
posed by the Ladies' Association, would prove eminently 
successful among the Pima Indians of Arizona. These 
Indians have, for perhaps a hundred years or more, 
abandoned nomadic life, and though a brave and fear- 
less race, have for as many years been permanently locat- 
ed upon the banks of the Gila river, relying for their sus- 
tenance upon a rude culture of the soil. I passed 
through their villages in 1849, and found them the 
most interesting and friendly Indians I had yet en- 
countered. They seemed to be gratified to have us 
among them, and could scarcely do enough for us, and 
for Indians, appeared already to be pretty well up in 
the scale of civilization. 

They have at various times since the occupation of 
Arizona by our troops, furnished to the military com- 
manders, large scouting parties for forays against the 
Apaches, while yearly they supply the government 
troops with all their surplus grain, and generally have 
hitherto, in many ways, evinced their desire to cultivate 
the most friendly relations with our people. I hail 
with infinite satisfaction the generous efforts you have 
made towards the establishment of a christian mission 
among the Pimas. May God the Father of us all, 
prosper your noble devotion and the great cause. 
Believe me truly your friend, 

FREDERICK TOWNSEND. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 



99 



We entered into correspondence with Mr. 
Cook, on learning of his employment as 
teacher at the agency, and received from him 
the following report of his first year's work : 

School Report of Rev. C. H, Cook, Teacher. 

U. S Indian Agency, Gila River Reservation, ) 

December 30, 1871. \ 









Mari- 








Mari- 








Pimai 


copas. 






Pima, 


copas. 




Date. 




CC i CO 

-S 

13! 6 



M 

24 


5 

19 


3 
"0 

62 


Date. 


CO 



pq 
12 


m 

5 

1 


CO 

24 


16 


"3 

t-l 


December 


1 


December 13 


53 




4 


9i..i 


10 


8 


127 


14 


14 


7> 


21 


16 


58 




5 


15 3 


11 


t 


|3fi 


16 


19 


R 


22 


16 


65 




6 


2210! 


19 


14 


l65 


18 


15 


5 


17 


15 


52 




t 


6, 2 


18 


9 


135 


19 


13 


Hi 


18 


16 


58 




8 


15 1 9 


21 


15 


r.o 


20 


17 


17 


13 


16 


63 




11 


1913 


120 


14 


66 


21 


11 


6 


16 


14 


47 




12 


15111 


I20 


17 


63 


22 


10 


10, 


16 


14 


50 



A year has nearly passed since our first endeavor to 
open school here, and it is with thankfulness that we 
acknowledge the aid vouchsafed by Providence, with- 
out which our efforts would be but in vain. 

Some of the obstacles we had to encounter have 
gradually disappeared ; most of the necessary school 
utensils have been supplied, and the Pima language has 
been mastered to some extent. 

Many of the scholars have made rapid progress in 
reading, writing, arithmetic, English speaking and 
singing. During the last half of the year, I have been 
aided by the assistant teacher. 

The Maricopa children do not understand the Pima 
language ; the distance to their village (over four miles) 



LofC. 



lOO THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

has heretofore prevented their regular attendance ; it 
was thought expedient to open a school here. The 
school house, an Indian hut, was built by the Indians, 
and serves for school, Sunday school and church. It 
is, however, untenable in very cold and windy weather. 
The children there, with few exceptions, and mostly 
such as live farther away, attend regularly. I think 
about $250 would enable us to build a suitable room 
there, and the school as a branch school would cause 
otherwise but little expense to the department. 

The attendence at the agency has not been as large 
and regular as last spring, owing partly to much sick- 
ness that has prevailed, during which four scholars 
have died. The Indians being somewhat superstitious, 
all of the Hrst village and others left their homes for a 
number of weeks at a time. We have found it almost 
impossible to secure a regular attendance here, especially 
among the smaller scholars ; the distance to their 
villages is from iX to 4^ miles. With a school house 
near the center of them, a much larger and more regular 
attendance may be reasonably expected ; this would 
also give us an opportunity for night school for adults, 
and for Sunday school and other religious services, so 
much needed. 

Our thanks are due to friends of Chicago for sending 

a supply of clothing and to some ladies of Philadelphia 

who sent us a map. 

Very respectfully, 

C. H. COOK. 

Under the policy instituted by President 
Grant, the Indian agencies were placed under 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. lOI 

the care and supervision of the several chris- 
tian denominations. The Indians on the Gila 
River Reservation were assigned to the Re- 
formed Church and the Board of Missions of 
that church appointed Mrs. Stout missionary 
teacher at the agency. 

Mrs. Stout entered upon her work with zeal 
and energy and soon after Mr. Cook's report 
reached us, we received from her the follow- 
ing letter : 

Gila River Reservation, 

April I, 1872. 

Let me thank you for sending us the organ and things 
for the children, which only arrived one week ago. The 
organ is such a nice one and pleased the children so 
much. It will be a great comfort to us also, for I don't 
know what it is to live without some kind of a musical 
instrument, or at least did not, until we came to Arizona. 
I feel that words are inadequate to thank you for all 
those things, and did I not know that God would abun- 
dantly bless and prosper you for doing it unto even the 
" least of these little ones," I should feel indeed that 
you were poorly rewarded, but I feel so sure of a rich 
reward for you, both in this world and in the world to 
come, such as only they receive who work for His sake. 

I shall commence a sewing school, day after tomorrow 
and let the girls work on both boys* and girls' clothes, 
but it will be such a few weeks until school closes, I 
don't think they can finish them ; but it will, 1 think. 
be an inducement for them to attend school more regu- 



I02 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

lady. M)- class of girls are doing nicely. They learn 
readily antl seem very bright. It is very slow work, 
however, and requires much patience. The school 
improves every day, the children look more tidy and 
take more interest. Dr. Bendell has just made us a 
visit, together with Dr. Tonner of the Mohave agency, 
and they were very much pleased. The superintendent 
said he thought they had done well. Their singing 
seemed to please him most. I think the Maricopas are 
the best singers. The manner in which they talk enables 
them to talk plainer English than the Pimas. The 
position of teacher to the Indians is far different from 
teaching in the states. The person selected for a teacher 
here should be some one who is a faithful christian with 
a great deal of patience and one who will be willing to 
sacrifice all for the Lord's sake. 

I remain, truly your friend, 

Geokgia Stout. 

We continued to aid and encourage the 
mission while under the supervision of the 
board of the Reformed Church, as many of 
the members of our association were connected 
with that church. On learning the needs of 
the children in school, boxes of clothing were 
made up and forwarded to the reservation, 
which were gratefully received and an annual 
report was returned to us by the United States 
Indian agent, 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. I03 

The Reformed Church, however, being un- 
able to sustain the mission on the Gila River 
Reservation, resigned the charge to the United 
States government and the responsibility was 
assumed in the year 1881, by the Board of 
Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church. 



It is not to magnify our own humble efforts 
in the beginning of this interesting mission, 
that we now review a work, which has for the 
last twelve years, been successfully prosecuted 
by the Board of Home Missions of the 
Presbyterian Church. 

Our object is to show the importance of 
individual effort in carrying the gospel to 
the Indians of our own country. It is not 
enough to make an annual contribution to 
the treasury of the Board of Missions ; some 
acquaintance should be had by the society 
contributing to the support of a mission, 
with the working force on the ground ; as, 
after the missionary's salary is raised, there 
are many wants unprovided for, which if 
supplied, would greatly aid the missionary in 
his work, which, for the want of such aid, is 
often hindered. 



I04 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Could we have known that Mrs. Cook's Hfe 
was endangered by a leaky roof, how gladly 
would we have removed this impediment to 
the comfort and welfare of herself and family ! 
But we had at that time, no knowledge of the 
difficulties with which those self-denying 
missionaries had to struggle ; humanly speak- 
ing, that precious life was lost to the cause to 
which it was consecrated, for the want of 
what we could easily have supplied. 

A brother missionary, Rev. I. T. Whitte- 
more, writes of Mrs. Cook : " She was a 
stranger to fear, a faithful mother, a noble 
companion for the pioneer missionary, whom 
God had chosen and fitted for his sphere of 
duty. Her nameless and unmarked grave^ 
as also that of one son sleeping by her side, 
is in the rear of the church, and is pointed 
out to the stranger who visits the now 
bereaved missionary. Like a bird with a 
broken wing, but with a heart rising superior 
to all disappointments, he still labors on 
zealously and patiently. His heart is glad- 
dened by the fruits of his long service, as he 
sees the Indians for whose spiritual welfare 
he has diligently labored, coming out of 
heathenism into the christian faith, and 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. I05 

becoming members of the church of Christ." 
But that unmarked grave ! After a few years 
have passed and the toil-worn missionary 
shall have ceased from his work on earth, or 
shall have been removed from his present 
field of labor, shall it be said of the faithful 
wife and mother, " No man knoweth of her 
sepulchre ?" 



Another consecrated life is just closed in 
the death of Miss Susan L. McBeth, who has 
left to the church and to the world a rich 
legacy in her noble work among the Nez- 
Perces Indians, showing wha.t one woman, who 
has her whole heart in the work, can do for a 
tribe of Indians, where her ability is equal to 
her zeal. 

It is now more than twenty years since 
Miss McBeth began her work among the Nez- 
Perces Indians of Idaho. She formulated 
and published a grammar of the Nez-Perces 
language, (being a fine linguist), and under- 
took the instruction and preparation for the 
ministry of the young men of that tribe, many 
of whom are now " proclaiming the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ among their countrymen 



Io6 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

and in their native tongue." She died May 
26, 1893, and her sister writes : " We buried 
her where she wished to be laid, down in the 
Kamiah Valley, close to the little Indian 
church she loved so well." 



" The desire to do a good work and the 
ability to accomplish it, constitute the ' Call.' '' 



" There are living on the American conti- 
nent at this time, from ten to twelve millions 
of Indians. About three hundred thousand 
Indians are in the United States and forty 
thousand in Alaska. 

The Indians of the United States are now 
found in Dakota, Montana, Washington, New 
Mexico, Arizona, California, the Indian Ter- 
ritory and Idaho. There are also remnants 
of once powerful tribes in the Eastern States. 

There are over one hundred thousand gath- 
ered on reservations,and ninety-eight thousand 
have become self-supporting. In the Indian 
Territory there are more than thirty-five thou- 
sand not living on reservations. About fifty- 
eight thousand of the whole Indian population 
are receiving assistance from the government. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. I07 

In 1868, the government placed the appoint- 
ment of Indian agents with the several Chris- 
tian denominations, and in ten years, forty 
thousand Indians besides those of the civilized 
tribes, could read and write. It would cost 
but three millions annually, to give every 
Indian girl and boy in the United States a 
good industrial and common school education. 

It has cost the United States government 
more than two hundred and seventy-three 
millions of dollars in ten years to fight the 
Indians, while five years' schoolmg of twenty 
thousand children would cost but twenty-two 
millions. There are now several government 
schools for the Indians, one at Hampton, la.; 
one at Carlisle, Penn., and there are also mis- 
sion schools at Albuquerque, N. M., and at 
Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. 

The school at Carlisle was begun in 1879 
and owes its inception and success to the zeai 
and energy of Captain R. H. Pratt of the 
U. S. Army. In his ' Historical Sketch of the 
Indian Industrial School at Carlisle, Penn.,' 
Captain Pratt says : ' The Carlisle school 
had its origin in convictions that grew out of 
eight years' Calvary service (1867 to 1875), 
against the Indians in the Indian Territory.' 



Io8 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

I often commanded Indian scouts, took 
charge of Indian prisoners and performed 
other Indian duty, which led me to consider 
the relative conditions of the two races. One 
plain duty resting upon us with regard to the 
Indians, is to assist them to die as helpless 
tribes, and to rise up among us as strong and 
capable individual men and American citizens. 
These views led me to recommend to General 
Sheridan in 1875, when sending to Florida 
the Indian prisoners then under my care at 
Fort Sill, I. T., that they should, while in 
such banishment, be educated and trained in 
civilized pursuits, and so far as practicable be 
brought into relations with our own people- 
Being detailed to conduct the prisoners to 
Florida and to remain in care of them, I 
established schools among them, and through 
letting them go out as laborers, which they 
very willingly did, and every other means that 
offered or that I could contrive, I pressed 
upon them American life and civilization. 
The three years of their stay in Florida 
wrought wonderful changes among them and 
in the spring of 1878, when these prisoners 
were released, twenty-two of the young men 
were led to ask for more education and said 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 109 

they would stay east three years longer if 
they could go to school." 

The money being provided by friends, 
seventeen of the released prisoners were 
placed in school at Hampton Institute, Va., 
four near Utica, N. Y., and one at Tarrytown- 
on-the-Hudson. The following year, Captain 
Pratt was detailed by the secretary of war, 
for special duty with reference to Indian 
education. Thus, we see again the interest 
evinced by an army officer in the welfare of 
the Indian, culminating in a great educational 
institution, where in the peaceful arts in which 
the former enemies of our government are 
now instructed, we have pleasing evidence 
that " the sword has been beaten into a plough- 
share, and the spear into a pruning-hook." 



It is with great satisfaction that we learn 
that officers of the U. S. Army are now 
detailed as Indian agents, and that they will 
henceforth be known as the friends and pro- 
tectors of the tribes against whom they have 
been sent to quell disturbances, and some- 
times to engage in the bloody conflict. 

Our correspondent at the Pima agency, in 
a letter recently received, says : '' Let our 



/ 



no THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

government put all of the Apache children 
in school, and let some church send mission- 
aries to the Apaches, and ere long, we shall 
not need soldiers to protect us from the 
Indians in Arizona." In another communi- 
cation received from Mr. Cook, he says : " I 
have found the U. S. Army officers nearly 
always the friends of the missionary." He 
also writes under date of August ii, 1891 : 
" We have a prosperous government school 
here, of about one hundred and thirty chil- 
dren, another school at Tucson, with about 
the same number of pupils. Then we have 
about an hundred children at the Albu- 
querque government school, and we expect to 
have a school this autumn at Phoenix, Arizona, 
about forty-five miles from here and about 
twelve miles from the western boundary of 
our reservation. We also expect to build 
another chapel this fall, some twenty or more 
miles west of here, where we already have 
eight members. Perhaps you are aware that 
the gospel and the schools are taking the 
place of the army." 

The report of the superintendent of Indian 
schools, gives the following for 1892 : 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. Ill 

IN SCHOOLS IN ARIZONA, 

Pima Government School, 142 

Tucson Presbyterial, 171 

Phoenix Government School, 48 

IN SCHOOLS OUTSIDE ARIZONA. 

Albuquerque Government School, 105 

Genoa, Nebraska, Government School,. . . 19 
The above includes pupils from the three 
tribes — Pimas, Maricopas and Papagoes. 

" The first day school," Vv'rites Mr. Cook, 
" among the Pima Indians, was opened Febru- 
ary 15, 187 1. The pupils came from threesmall 
Pima villages, two to three miles distant ; also 
from a Maricopa village, about four and a 
half miles from the agency. The children 
were hungry and almost naked, so we gave 
each of them a piece of bread for lunch. A 
branch school was subsequently opened in a 
Maricopa village, with Mrs. Cook as assistant* 
At first, a large brush hut served for the school, 
but afterwards a suitable room was built by 
the government. The clothing sent by your 
society, helped to clothe the children, and the 
good Mason and Hamlin organ, aided much 
in the English singing, in which the pupils 
delighted. The school-house also often an- 



112 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

swered the purpose of a chapel, and on winter 
evenings, the parents often met there to listen 
to the gospel message. At one of the meet- 
ings, an Indian asked if it was ' true that we 
had immortal souls } ' 

Our preaching in the various villages on 
Sundays, had the effect of awakening a desire 
in the minds of the Indians for schools in all 
of their villages. We have translated the first 
chapters of Genesis, the Ten Command- 
ments, some of the Psalms and several chap- 
ters of the New Testament. We have built 
two churches and a parsonage with only 
Indian help, which has left us but little time 
for the translation of the Bible into the Pima 
language. We have now eighty-five church 
members and expect an additional number 
at our next communion. Our chapel will 
seat three hundred persons, and we have 
now a comfortable church home at a total 
expense of $350. The organs at both 
chapels are in good order and are doing good 
service. One of the organs is played by one 
of the girls of the Tucson school. We expect 
to build a church this fall, some thirty-five 
miles west of the agency, where we have 
eight members. During the time of my ser- 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. II3 

vice here, I have preached on Sundays in most 
of the villages, often to large congregations. 
With the help of the school boys during 
vacation, we have translated parts of the 
Bible into the Pima language. I send you a 
copy of the Lord's Prayer in the Pima 
language." 

THE LORD'S PRAYER. 

Ah-chim 't Aw-ock 

tahm katch-im chirt 't ta, 

se-atch-has-oe-lit moe choe-oe-kick. 

Va to cheav-ia hoek near-noi-tam. 

Va hap-o-chew et-e chue-wut ap 
hoem taht-cho ha-po-mas-e-ma tahm 
katch-im chirt hap-o-wah. 

Et-e tars ap hie-a-chew hook t mahk. 

Va-to stoy-e-kal pat t chew-ay-chick, 
ha-po-mas-ay-ma n ah-chim stoy-i-kal 
wu-es, ah-chim pe-ap hap- 
e-chew. 

Wu-es sah-po et wu-ay, 

Wu-es hie-a-chew pe-a-po-kum wo 
e-wuh-sit. 

Wu-e-he-chit ah-pe map-o-ot te- 
nah-to-kam, koe-ve-ki-tuck oe-ni-ka, 
cheep hoe-kick-ka-lick wu-e-he-chit 
ssoell. Amen. 



114 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

About 8,000 Indians speak the Pima lan- 
guage. The Pimas number about 4,000 ; 
the Yuacharties, 750 ; Papagoes, 3,250. The 
Apaches speak a different language. 

The Lord hasten the time when every 
Indian on this continent shall hear in his 
own tongue, the glad message brought to the 
Shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem : " Be- 
hold I bring you good tidings of great joy, 
which shall be to all people ; for unto you is 
born in the city of David, a Saviour which is 
Christ the Lord." 




O 

< 

O 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Gila River Reservation— Climate, Soil, 

Productions and Ancient Ruins. 

* 

The climate of southern Arizona is one of 
the most healthful in this country. During 
the summer, the heat, though intense, is by no 
means unendurable. It is far more tolerable 
when the mercury is at 105° to 1 10° than when, 
in the east or north, the thermometer stands 
at 90°. Seldom does a thunder storm from 
the mountains, reach this region, or a cyclone 
bring destruction to the fields and dwellings. 
There are no instances of sun-stroke and the 
sand storms which occasionally sweep through 
the valley soon pass, and without damage to 
the fields or crops. In winter, no chilling 
winds or poisonous blasts are to be dreaded, 
but perpetual sunshine lights up the land- 
scape and invites the invalid to this balmy 
atmosphere. 

The soil is exceedingly fertile ; it needs 
only good cultivation and plenty of water for 
irrigation ; the sun will do the rest. The Gila 
river is capable of furnishing an abundant 
supply of water, when, in addition to the 



Il6 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

large amount furnished by the Florence canal 
(the only canal in this valley), and a large 
reservoir fifteen miles south of Florence, 
a d^m shall be constructed at Buttes, fourteen 
miles east of the town. This will furnish water 
sufficient for many of the Indian villages, 
besides irrigation for 250,000 acres more than 
the canal now furnishes. 

The Pima or Gila river reservation is the 
largest of the four reservations (belonging 
to the Pimas, Papagoes and Maricopas) of 
the Pima Agency. 

It is about forty-five miles long and four- 
teen miles wide, and is situated on the Gila 
river. The valley proper averages two miles 
in width and the land is very rich. The only 
difficulty in making it productive and fruit- 
ful, is the want of sufficient water for pur- 
poses of irrigation. Nearly all kinds of grain 
and vegetables, as well as nearly all the citric 
and other fruits of a semi-tropical climate, are 
produced in the rich valley of the Gila river. 
With a full supply of water to irrigate their 
farms, these Indians will soon be entirely 
self-supporting. 

Fourteen miles east of the Pima Agency 
is the famous Ruin of Casa Grande. 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. II7 

This ruin is one of the deepest studies for 
the antiquarian and ethnologist and is 
among the best preserved of the pre-historic 
remains in our country. It was old when 
Columbus discovered this " New World," and 
is supposed to have been erected by the 
unknown race of civilized people who once 
inhabited this valley. It is an object of curi- 
osity to the traveler, though of the hands that 
built it and for what purpose it was erected, 
we have now no knowledge. Its massive 
walls were built of a peculiar concrete of 
unknown ingredients, which differs greatly 
from the materials used by any of the Indian 
tribes of the south-west ; and its interior was 
finished with a smooth coat of cement that 
has successfully withstood the ravages of 
time. It was evidently a handsome and 
imposing edifice, of six or eight stories high ; 
but beyond this fact all is shrouded in 
mystery. 

This ruin was first discovered in 1540, when 
the walls were four stories high and six feet 
in thickness. Around it were many other 
ruins, with portions of their walls yet standing, 
which would go to prove that a city of no 
inconsiderable dimensions once existed here. 



Il8 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

As showing its great antiquity, it is mentioned 
that the Pima Indians, who then, (1540) as 
now, were living in the immediate vicinity, 
had no knowledge of the origin or history of 
the structure, or the people who built it In 
the immediate vicinity, the traces of an 
immense irrigating canal have been followed 
to the Gila river, forty miles distant. This 
canal, no doubt, brought water to the city and 
irrigated the rich valley which surrounds the 
river. 

Sphinx-like, the mysterious ruin stands 
amid the solitude of the desert plain, while 
from its weather beaten crest, voiceless cen- 
turies look down upon the curious inquirer. 



The review of twenty-five years brings to 
our memory an incident, which is not irrelevant 
to the subject of " missions of christian women 
to the Indians." 

It was in the beginning of our mission 
work for the tribes of Indians, commended 
to our sympathy and Christian effort by 
officers of the United States Army, that 
one evening, at the house of the president 
of our association, with whom we were then 
in consultation, a good elder of the Presby- 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. Up 

terian Church called and introduced to us, 
the Rev. H. H. Spaulding of Oregon. The 
venerable missionary was on the way to his 
old home at the east, after an absence of 
thirty four years. He had come to vindicate 
the good name of his associate, Dr. Marcus 
Whitman, the martyr missionary, and to erase, 
if possible, from the records of congress, the 
false statements published under what pur- 
ported to be "an account of the murder of 
Dr. Whitman." 

Under date December i, 1870, the fol- 
lowing account of the visit of the veteran 
missionary appeared in the same weekly jour- 
nal which had given not long before, a place 
in its columns to the appeal for a teacher for 
the Pima Indians, to which we have already 
referred. The writer says under the heading, 
" An Evening with an Old Missionary : " 



"One day last week a man of humble appear- 
ance, about seventy years of age, called at 
our office and was introduced by a stranger, 
as the Rev. H. H. Spaalding of Oregon. We 
had heard something of his labors as a mis- 
sionary among the Indians in that region and 
were glad to take the veteran by the hand. 



I20 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

The few words we could then have together, 
led us to press him to share our hospitalities 
for the night, which he accepted. 

" Dr. Whitman's wife and mine," said the 
missionary, as we drew up our chairs about 
the study table, and opened our " Colton " to 
the right map, " were the first white women 
that ever crossed the Rocky Mountains." 
" But how came you to go ?" we asked. 

And then for four hours of the rarest 
interest, we listened to the wondrous story 
of 

"THE MACEDONIAN NEZ-PERCES." 



About their council fire, in solemn conclave, 
it was in the year 1832, the Flat-Heads and 
Nez-Perces had determined to send four of 
their number to the rising sun for " that 
book from heaven." They had got word of 
the Bible and a Saviour, in some way, from 
the Iroquois. These four dusky wise men, 
one of them a chief, who had thus dimly 
" seen His star in the east," made their way 
to St. Louis ; and it is significant of the perils 
of this thousand miles journey, that only one 
of them survived to return. They fell into 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 121 

the hands of an explorer who had traveled 
extensively in the regions of the Columbia 
river. How utterly he failed to meet their 
wants is revealed in the sad words with which 
they departed, •' I came to you "—and the 
survivor repeated the words years afterwards 
to Mr. Spaulding— " with one eye partly 
opened. I go back with both eyes closed 
and both arms broken. My people sent me 
to obtain that book from heaven. 

I am now to return without it, and my people 
will die in darkness." And so they took 
their leave. But this sad lament was over- 
heard. A young man wrote it to his friends 
in Pittsburgh. Then showed the account to 
Catlin, of Indian portrait fame, who had just 
come from the Rocky Mountains. He said, 
" It cannot be ; those Indians were in our 
company, and I heard nothing of this ; wait 
till I write to Clark before you publish it." 
He wrote ; the response was, " It is true." 

That was the sole object of their visit, " To 

get the Bible." Then Catlin said, " Give it 
to the world." The Methodists at once com- 
missioned Rev. Mr. Lee to go and find this 
tribe, who had so strangely broken out of 
their darkness toward the light. 



122 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

Dr. Marcus Whitman, of the American 
board who was too late for the overland 
caravan for that summer, followed the next 
year. He found the Nez-Perces. But so 
fearful were the ridges and the ravines of the 
path to them, and so wild the country where 
they roamed, that he pushed on to the tribes 
living near the coast. 



WOMAN'S HEROISM. 

It was with great joy the Nez-Perces wel- 
comed Whitman the next year. Having 
explored the situation, and taking with him 
two boys which the Indians had placed in 
his hands, as hostages, in some sort, for his 
return, he went back for his intended wife and 
to secure others for the work. But who 
would go ? Men could be found, but where 
was the woman willing to brave the vague 
horrors of that howling wilderness ? His 
betrothed consented. But an associate and 
he, a married man, must be obtained. More 
than a score of most devoted ones were 
applied to in vain. Friends said it is madness 
to make the attempt. P'or that country and 
the way between, in the popular impression? 
was a dark unknown, tuU of terrors. 



tHE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. I23 

A year was spent in the search for associ- 
ates, and then light came from an unexpected 
quarter. In the early spring or 1836, a sleigh, 
extemporized from a wagon, was craunching 
through the deep snows of Western New 
York. In it were Rev. Mr. Spaulding and his 
wife. They were on their way, under com- 
mission of the x\merican board, to the Osage 
Indians. Mrs. Spaulding had started from 
a bed of lingering illness and was then able 
to walk less than a quarter of a mile. Dr. 
Whitman, having heard of the rare courage 
of this woman, by permission of the board 
started in pursuit. 

"We want you for Oregon," was the hail 
with which he overtook them. 

" How long will the journey take ? " 

" The summers of two years." 

" What convoy will we have ? " 

" The American Fur Company, to the 
Divide." 

" What shall we have to live on ? " 

"Buffalo meat, till we can raise our own 
grain." 

" How shall we journey ? " 

" On horse-back." 

" How cross the rivers ? " 

" Swim them." 



1^4 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

After this brief dialogue, and we give it 
precisely in the missionary's own words, Mr. 
Spaulding turned to his wife and said, '' My 
dear, my mind is made up. It is not your 
duty to go ; but we will leave it to you after 
we have prayed." 

By this time they had reached a wayside 
inn, in the town of Howard, N, Y. Taking 
a private room, they each prayed in turn and 
then Mrs. Spaulding was left to herself. In 
about ten minutes she appeared with a beam- 
ing face, and said, " I have made up my mind 
to go." 

" But your health, my dear ! " 

'' / like the command just as it stands, ' Go 
ye into all the world,' and no exception for poor 
healthy 

" But the perils in your weak condition — 
you don't begin to think how great they are." 

" The dangers of the way and the weakness 
of my body are His ; duty is mine." 

''But the Indians will take you prisoner. 
They are. frantic for such captives. You will 
never see your friends again." And the 
strong man broke down, giving vent to the 
anguish of his soul in a flood of tears. 

Was it the wife who answered, or was it a 
voice from the old time ? 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 1 25 

"What mean ye to weep and to break 
mine heart ? for I am ready, not to be bound 
only, but also to die at Jerusalem," or in the 
Rocky Mountains, " for the name of the Lord 
Jesus." 

'' Then," said the veteran, with a charming 
simplicity, " I had to come to it, I didn't know 
anything." 

" Well, you were crazy," we interposed," to 
think of such a journey and she so weak." 

" We were, but God meant to have us go. 
He wanted to have an emigration go across 
the mountains, and this was the way He took 
to start it." 

Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding continued their 
journey and Whitman sending forward to his 
bride to be ready, went back for his Indian 
boys — they were then about sixteen years old 
— and pressed on after them. There was a 
hasty wedding by the way, and then the 
bridal tour began. 

But the strife of parting was not yet over. 

At Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, all 
along the way, hands were stretched out to 
hold them back. Catlin at Pittsburgh, assured 
them they could not take women through. 
The hostile Indians that hover about the 



126 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION, 

convoy, would fight against any odds to cap- 
ture them. One woman had tried it, but the 
company was massacred, and she was dragged 
away and never heard of again. Mrs. Spauld- 
ing was especially beset with these tales of 
horror. "But," said the husband with an 
honest pride, " it did not move her a hair." 

A SUNDAY ON SHORE. 



The party took boats at Pittsburgh. Satur- 
day night found them between Cairo and St. 
Louis. Mrs. Spaulding, who seems to have 
had a good share, both of the courage and the 
conscience of the company, insisted that they 
should be put on shore to spend Sunday. 
The captain and the passengers laughed at 
her scruples. "But," she said, " out on the 
plains we shall be at the mercy of the Fur 
Company, and viust go on. Here we can 
stop." 

" But no boat will ever call at such an out- 
of-the-way place as this, to take you off." 

" We'll take the chances of that. Put us 
on shore. The New England home mission- 
ary marked that day in white, which brought 
such a rare accession to his little meeting in 
the school house. He said it was like an 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 1 27 

angel's visit. Early Monday morning, a 
great puffing was heard below, and a grand 
steamer, better than the one they had left, 
rounded to, at their signal, and took them 
on board. Fifty miles above they overtook 
the other boat, hopelessly stranded on a sand 
bar. 

At St. Louis, the missionaries found the 
American Fur Company fitting out their an- 
nual expedition for the mountains, but as the 
two wives were of the party, they could not 
have secured a place in the caravan, had not 
Whitman been in special favor by his services 
rendered the year before, when he rendered 
invaluable aid on the breaking out of the 
cholera in the camp and through his skill and 
tact restored order and stayed the pestilence. 
Having secured the company's pledge, they 
pressed on by boat to Liberty Landing. Here 
Spaulding purchased mules — wild, he found 
them — fifteen or twenty horses, as many cows 
and two wagons, not forgetting a quart of seed 
wheat. With this retinue, he started for Coun- 
cil Bluffs, while Whitman waited with the 
women and the goods for the company's boat. 
After some days that boat passed, purposely 
leaving them behind. Through this bad 



/' 



128 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

faith, he was obliged to send forward to Spauld- 
ing for horses,and to overtake him, as he could, 
by land. This part of the trip was peculiarly 
trying. Spaulding especially, who for his 
wife's sake, was not yet altogether happy in 
going, seemed to be the sport of a very ill 
fortune. A tornado scattered his cattle, swept 
away his tent, tore his blankets from him while 
suffering from ague, and left him to be 
drenched by the rain. 

It did not help the case any to learn, when 
they were within twenty-five miles of Council 
Bluffs, that the Fur Company's convoy had 
started, and were already five and a half days 
out on the plains. 

" 'Twas a poor chance," said the narrator, 
" for us greenhorns. They were old trappers 
with fresh horses, while our teams were already 
jaded." And I said^for I was terribly sick — 
'^ we can't overtake them, we shall have to go 
back." But my wife constantly affirmed, " I 
have started for the Rocky Mountains and I 
expect to go there !" 

And now commenced a series of marked in- 
terpositions. It was pure faith and not sight 
at all to push on after that cavalcade. The 
trappers evidently designed to keep ahead, and 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 1 29 

induce the missionaries to turn back. Bui to 
secure the protection of the convoy was 
indispensable. 

" It was a desperate race," said the mis- 
sionary, kindling at the remembrance, " but 
we won it. They had to halt and fill up 
ravines and make roads. This detained them 
four days. After various detentions, at Soup 
Fork, still four other days were lost in find- 
ing the ford, and drying their goods, wet in 
crossing. Meanwhile, we were pressing on 
behind and the Lord helped us. The day 
before we reached Soup Fork, we rode from 
daylight till two o'clock at night. One horse 
broke down and was turned loose, and my 
wife fainted by the way. A signal gun at 
the ford brought answer from the other side 
and we camped. The convoy started early 
in the morning, but left a man to show us 
across, and late that night, we missionaries 
filed into their camp and took the place 
reserved for us, two messes west of the 
captain's tent, and so we won the race by 
two lengths ! " Once among them, nothing 
could exceed the kindness of the men. The 
choicest buffalo morsels were always kept for 
our ladies, but now, sick or well, we had to 



130 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

go on. We were two hundred souls and six 
hundred animals. Every thing was in the 
strictest military order, for hostile Indians 
continually hovered on our flanks. At night, 
we camped with the animals solid in the 
center. The tents and wagons were disposed 
around them, and outside of all, sentinels 
marched their steady round. Each day, two 
hunters and two packers went out for Buffalo. 
Each night, save when we had lost the way, 
they overtook us at the appointed camp with 
four mule loads of meat. This was our only 
subsistence." 

" Did they never fail to find game ?" 

" Yes, once or twice, and then we had to go 
hungry." 

On the 6th of June, we were at Fort Laramie. 
Wife was growing weaker and weaker. 

" You must stay here," said the captain ; 
" Mrs. Spaulding will die for want of bread." 

" No," said she, " I started to go over the 
mountains in the name of my Saviour, and I 
must go on." 



July fourth, they entered the South Pass. 
Mrs. Spaulding fainted that morning and she 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 13I 

herself thought she was about to die. As they 
laid her upon the ground she said : " Don't 
put me on that horse again. Leave me and 
save yourselves. Tell mother I am glad I 
came." 



But the caravan stopped on the "divide" and 
sent back for her and she was borne on. She 
soon revived and three hours afterward they 
saw the waters trickling toward the Pacific. 
And there — it was Independence Day — they, 
alighting from their horses and kneeling on 
the western slope of the continent, with the 
Bible in one hand and our national flag in the 
other, took possession of it as the home of 
American mothers and of the church of 
Christ. 

Just beyond, was the great mountain ren- 
dezvous, the end of the convoy's route, a kind 
of neutral ground where multitudes of Indians 
were gathered for trade. There were rough 
mountaineers there, who had not seen a white 
woman since they had left the homes of their 
childhood. Some of them came to meet the 
missionaries and wept as they took their wives 
by the hand. " From that day," said one of 



132 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

them, " I was a better man." But best of all, 
here met them a greeting party of the Nez- 
Perces. " They were the happiest men you 
ever saw." Their women took possession of 
Mrs. Spauldingand the gladness they showed, 
not less than the biscuit-root and the trout 
with which they fed her, revived her spirit. 
From that hour she began to mend ; and 
from that hour, her future and theirs were 
one. Ten days of rest here, and the journey 
was resumed. The remainder of the way, if 
shorter, was no less perilous and they had 
asked in dismay, " What shall we do for a 
convoy ? " But God took care of them. He 
sent an English trading company to the ren- 
dezvous that year — an unusual thing — and 
with them, they completed their journey. It 
was the twenty-ninth of November when they 
reached the Columbia river. They had left 
civilization the 21st of May, a long journey, 
but not the trip of two summers to which they 
had made up their minds. 

And now they were at home, amid a nation 
that had no homes ; they had found a resting- 
place among restless wanderers. But faith 
had become sisfht — the first battle had been 
fought and won. White women had come 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 133 

safely over the mountains ; cattle and horses 
had been kept secure from Indian raiders ; a 
ivacron had been brought through, '■'■ the first 
7vhee.l that had ever pressed the sage."' 

Whitman had demonstrated to himself that 
an emigration could cross from Missouri to 
Oregon ; and when, six years afterward, he 
led a company of a thousand along the same 
track, he demonstrated it to the world, and 
saved Oregon, and with it California, to the 
United States. 

The old missionary's story is not half told, 
but we must cut it short. Whitman took the 
Cayuses at Waiilatpu, near Walla Walla ; 
Spaulding camped 120 miles farther up the 
Snake river, among the Nez-Perces. He 
found a people without a hoe or plow, or hoof 
of cattle ; savages, who feasted when the hunt 
was good, but starved through the long winters. 
Eleven years afterward they were settled in 
homes ; their crops of grain had reached from 
20,000 to 30,000 bushels a year. The cows 
which the missionaries brought,had multiplied 
for the Indians into numerous herds ; gardens 
and orchards were planted ; the sheep, which 
the Sandwich Islanders gave them, had grown 
to flocks. In the school which Mrs. Spauld- 
ing taught were five hundred pupils ; a church 



134 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 

of a hundred members had been gathered. 
The language of the people had been reduced 
to writing. A patriarchal government with a 
code of laws had been established ; the Sab- 
bath was observed. Upon the first printing 
press west of the mountains, and that pre- 
sented to the mission by the native church at 
Honolulu, (the type-setting, press-work and 
binding done by the missionary's own hand) 
were printed a few school books, the native 
code of laws, a small collection of hymns, and 
the gospel of Matthew. 

And then came the terrible martyrdom of 
Dr. Whitman. Spaulding, visiting him at 
the time, fled for his life to his faithful Nez- 
Perces. Six days he was without food, feel- 
ing his way, sore-footed, by night, and hiding 
when the dawn appeared. 

There was a hasty gathering of the house- 
hold, a journey of two hundred miles to the 
settlements in mid-winter, and the mission 
came to an end. Almost blind himself, and 
broken in constitution, he watched for many 
months by the bed-side of his wife, dying from 
that exposure — watched till she passed 
through the river to the Celestial Mountains 
and the Land beyond. 

" The dead are there where rolls the Oregfon." 



THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 135 

But again the " blood of the martyrs " 
proved " the seed of the church." Eventually, 
Mr. Spaulding returned to his loved field of 
labor among the faithful Nez-Perces and from 
a young missionary, consecrated to that work 
two years after the interview which we have 
described, we received a most interesting let- 
ter, in which is the following, under date Nez- 
Perces, Indian Reserve, Aug. 6, 1872 : 

" I can only write now of the topic which I 
think will most interest you : The election of 
this people to the brotherhood in the kingdom 
of God's dear son. Of our revered Brother 
Spaulding's early labors and sacrifices among 
them, and the martrydom of his angel wife ^ 

you have undoubtedly heard. But though the V 

exile of Brother Spaulding from his beloved 
people continued through a period of twenty- 
four years, the light did not all go out. 
Through the long twenty-four years, the voice 
of prayer did not cease, nor were the hymns 
and the translated passages of Scripture laid 
aside, but were sacredly kept and used." 

The noble policy of President Grant 
restored to them again, their beloved pastor, 
and the seed which he had sown in tears, so 
many years before, now seemed to need but 



1^6 THE PIMA INDIAN MISSION. 



J 



his presence (as the warmth of the sun) to 
cause it to spring up and "bring forth fruit 
abundantly." 

On his return to his field of labor at Lap- 
wai, a new generation met him (only eighteen 
of his former church being left); but the 
fathers had taught the children to watch and 
pray for the return of their old pastor, and 
they received him and the word of life which 
he spoke, with an eager welcome. Within one 
week, over eighty were added to the church, 
and the great work went on. 

There are already two old men and seven 
young men, who preach acceptably in the 
native language. We aim at the conversion 
of the whole tribe, which numbers nearly three 
thousand." 



In taking leave of our readers, if any 
apology should seem necessary for bringing to 
them our personal reminiscences, we can only 
say that the story of the two missions which 
we have related, it is hoped may be blessed 
of God to the "sending forth laborers into 
his harvest." 



'APR 7 1903 



